Picking Up the Pieces
by katerinavalentine
Summary: "I'm surprised you're hungry with all those pills and water you downed." "It was Vodka." "Caterina." "What? I wanted the good shit, yanno? Party hardy, woo," she said, weakly pumping her fist with a 'rock on' sign.
1. Chapter 1

**TRIGGER WARNING: This story contains mention and description (dialogue) of sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, mental disorder, and child death.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER ONE**

Cat sobbed, pounding on the front door of the West household. It was raining and she was soaked because she ran from her house all the way to Jade's - which was a good seven blocks away. She didn't know what time it was, but all the lights were out except the porch light, so she knew they were all asleep. "Jade!" she called out. "Jade, please open the door!"

The door opened moments later, revealing Dr. Grace West in her pajamas, with an exhausted look upon her face that quickly turned to concern when she saw the redhead she'd dubbed as her second daughter standing in the pouring rain and sobbing. "Cat, honey - what's going on?" she asked, ushering the seventeen-year-old into the house before closing the door.

"He - he - he," Cat stammered between gasps and sobs.

"Calm down, breathe," the doctor said as she lead Cat to the living room, sitting her on the couch and sitting next to her.

"Mommy?" a small voice said from the doorway.

"Not right now, Brandon. Go get Jade and tell her Cat's here. Right now."

As the five-year-old little boy ran out of the room, Mr. Greg West entered. "What's going on?" he asked.

"I'm trying to find out, I just need her to calm down."

"Cat? Are you okay?" he asked, reaching out to touch her shoulder, but his hand was quickly slapped away.

"Don't touch me!" Cat snapped, jumping up from the couch and walking to the other side of her room.

Greg and Grace looked at each other for a few seconds, Grace making her way over to the frightened teen. "It's okay, honey - he won't touch you."

"Why am I being woken up at four in the fucking morning?" Jade asked grumpily as she walked into the living room. It only took her a few seconds to see that Cat was visibly upset and she made her way over to her, the smaller girl wrapping her arms around the goth like her life depended on it. "What happened, Cat?"

Cat sobbed, her face burying into Jade's neck, mumbling unintelligible words.

"Cat, talk to me," Jade said. "Did something happen at home?" Cat's head nodded. "Are your parents okay?"

"They - they - they aren't - they aren't ho - ome," Cat sobbed.

"Are they on business?" Cat nodded. "Did Chris do something?" Another nod. Jade took Cat's face in her hands, her own eyes filling with tears as she feared the worst. She knew how Cat's brother could be. "Did he hurt you?" Another nod. "Did he rape you?" she whispered. Cat's head shook. "Did he touch you in places he shouldn't have?"

Cat breaking down again and sobbing was all the confirmation Jade needed. She wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and looked at her parents. "Chris molested her. We need the police. Request Officer Vega. He's the only one Cat'll talk to. Okay?" she asked, looking at Cat. "Can we call Officer Vega?"

As soon as Cat nodded, Grace was on her phone.

"I'll call the Valentines," Greg said. "I'm so sorry, Cat."

"She knows, honey," Grace said. "She knows you'd never hurt her. She's just traumatized."

"You know that, right?" Jade asked, pulling Cat away to look at her. "You know Dad would never hurt you."

Cat nodded and sobbed, hugging her again.

"She knows, Dad," Jade said, kissing Cat's head.

* * *

"Is there anything you wanna tell us before the police get here? Maybe something you might not be able to tell them yourself?" Grace asked.

Cat sniffled and pulled her knees up to her chest. "Um..." she cleared her throat. "I just... he wouldn't stop..."

"What exactly happened, honey? We have to know."

"I was asleep. And... I guess he started touching me while I was still sleeping because I started feeling really good in my dream..." her voice cracked. "And um... I woke up right as..." Cat stopped, covering her face with her hands.

"Right as what, sweetheart?"

"Um... right as I had an orgasm. I woke up enough to know that someone was doing it and I thought maybe Daniel just... got a little excited and needed relief, but... then I saw Chris's head between my legs and I tried to leave, but he held me down and kept doing things. Touching, biting... mostly orally, and he just kept doing it over and over again and I tried so hard, so, so hard not to hit climax and it just kept happening," she sobbed.

"That's not your fault," Jade said. "That's a normal reaction whether you wanted it or not. Whether it felt good even though you didn't want it to or not, that's not your fault and it doesn't make it right that he did it."

"It's gross..."

"It wasn't a bad thing that you felt good, honey," Grace said. "When you're being touched like that, it makes you feel good. It doesn't matter whether it was right or wrong, feeling good and having an orgasm doesn't mean you liked it."

"But it shouldn't have. It shouldn't have felt the way it did. It should only feel like that with Daniel."

"Girls?" Greg asked from the doorway. "The police are here for Cat's statement."

"Is it Officer Vega?"

"Yes. Officer? She's in here."

David Vega walked into the living room. "Cat?"

Cat sniffled and stood up, walking to him and hugging him. "Please help me..."

"I need to know what happened."

"Chris..."

"Okay. Can I talk to you on my own?"

Cat nodded.

"We'll be in the kitchen," Grace said, standing up as she motioned for Jade to follow her.

As soon as the Wests were out of the room, David and Cat sat down. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Um... I was asleep. And when I woke up, Chris was... there," she said.

"Where?"

"Between my legs."

"Okay. What was he doing?"

Cat stayed silent for a few seconds, running her hand through her hair. "...It's embarrassing, Mr. Vega..."

"Cat, I have to know what happened so we can get him. What was he doing?"

She let out a small breath, biting her lip as she stared at the wall. "...He was eating me out."

"Hey."

Cat looked at him, her chin trembling.

"You didn't do anything wrong here, Cat. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. I know it's uncomfortable to talk about, but the more I know the faster I can get Chris to the station. We don't want him doing this to anybody else, okay?" Cat nodded. "Did he do anything else?"

"He used his fingers. Most of it was oral, but he um..." Cat whimpered, trying to keep her tears from falling. "He pulled me on top of him and made me ride him."

"Were his genitals inside of you?"

"No. It was just humping."

"Okay. How did you get away from him?"

"I waited until he came. And then I stabbed him in the nuts with a nail file and got as decent as I could and ran over here."

"You ran eight blocks in the rain?"

Cat nodded. "I was scared... I know I should've called the police, but I - I had to get somewhere safe, Mr. Vega, I... I was terrified that he'd come after me."

"Did he try to chase you?"

"I don't think so. The nail file went through to the bed. He might be bleeding out."

"Alright, sit tight, okay?" David said, standing up from the couch. He pressed a button on the radio resting on his shoulder. "This is Officer David Vega, unit 117. We need a bus at 1609 Haven Court for a twenty-year-old male with a stab wound to the testicles, possible hemmorhaging."

Cat covered her mouth as she stifled a giggle, but her smile left when David looked at her. "Sorry, it's not funny, it's just... No, it was kind of funny to hear, but I know it's not."

"There's a lot of things that sound funny. You want me to send Jade back in?"

Cat nodded. "Mr. Vega?"

"Yeah."

"Thank you."

"Anytime, kiddo. I'll get in touch with your parents."

Cat nodded and watched him leave the room, her eyes casting towards the ground. Just a few moments later, she felt a weight on the couch and she looked up at Jade with sad eyes. "...What did I do wrong, Jadey?"

Jade shook her head, pulling the smaller girl into a hug. "Nothing, Kitten. You didn't do anything wrong. Chris did."

"I had to have done something..."

"You were asleep, baby girl... there was nothing you could have done."

"I should have locked my door..."

"He just would have picked it. This is not your fault. I promise you that."

Cat sniffled, nodding and she rested her head against the couch, letting out a small sigh.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

"Do I have to do this?" Cat asked as he legs bounced nervously.

It had been a few weeks since the incident with her brother happened. When Greg called the Valentines, they immediately flew back home. Chris was arrested and they had to wait for a trial time, which unfortunately could take a while, but as long as he wasn't around Cat, the Valentines were fine with however long it took. Cat's mother Tara wanted her to start therapy because she was showing signs of depression and wanted to get it taken care of and controlled before it got too bad to handle.

"Just try it, okay?" Tara asked. "It could be a good thing, honey."

"We'll be right out here waiting for you to come out," her father said. "And Jade will be here in a little bit. Just relax, be yourself, just talk about what you're comfortable talking about, but talking about what happened might help."

"Don't pressure her, Adam."

Cat sighed, leaning back in the chair. "I don't feel good. I just wanna go home. Can't we just go home and do this when I'm feeling better?"

"Honey, you're depressed. Depression makes you sick. If you get some of that pent up anger and whatever other emotions that are going on in your head out, you'll start to feel better."

"Caterina Valentine," a voice said.

Cat looked up, a woman standing by a large door catching her attention. She let out a small breath and stood up, handing her phone to Tara before walking towards the woman.

"Hi. I'm Dr. Turner," the woman said, opening the door so Cat could enter the room.

Cat nodded and bit her lip, making her way into the room, looking around for a few seconds. It looked more like a library than an office. She heard the door close and Dr. Turner gestured to a chair.

"Take a seat, Caterina," Dr. Turner said.

"Cat," Cat said, sitting down slowly. "I go by Cat. I never go by Caterina."

"Okay. I'll put that in my notes," the doctor said. "So, I hear you've gone through some turmoil."

"If my brother molesting me is considered **turmoil** , then I guess so."

"I'd like to let you know that anything said in this room stays in this room unless you talk about it outside of therapy. I don't talk to anybody about my clients. I know I'm a stranger, but this is my profession and I take my job very seriously. I'd really like to help you in any way I can, but the only way I can do that is if you talk to me about what's going on in your head."

"There's a lot of things going on in my head. Like... everything just multiplied and got so much worse."

"Like what?"

"Like... my feelings. I've never really felt like I was worth much, but... now I don't feel worth anything at all. My brother defiled me. Ruined my worth..."

"Do you have friends?"

"Yeah. I have six really close friends, but I have a lot of general friends."

"You have family?"

"Mhm," she nodded. "I have a sister that's at a boarding school. And I have a baby sister."

"Do you think they love you?"

"Well... why wouldn't they? They wouldn't bother with me if they didn't. My little sister comes to me over my mom."

"You're worth something to them," Dr. Turner said. "Everyone that loves you, you're worth something to."

"I don't feel like I am. Sometimes I feel like they'd be just fine if I wasn't around."

"Are you planning on running away?"

Cat shook her head. "No."

"Are you planning on anything dangerous?"

The redhead stayed silent for a few seconds, picking at her cuticles. "...Not **planning**. But I've thought about it."

"About what?"

Another few moments of silence. "Suicide."

"Have you attempted it?"

Cat shook her head. "No. I've thought about it, though. A lot. Every night since it happened, I've thought about it. My mom says I'm depressed..."

"You are. That much is evident. Depression causes suicidal thoughts, that's normal with depression. But, I'd like to get that taken care of as soon as possible. What I'm going to do is refer you to a mental health facility and get you in touch with a behavioral health physician and they'll get back to me about what medication they feel is most suitable for you and we'll get you started on it. I'll talk to your parents about it because they have to okay it with you being a minor, but as soon as they do then we can get started on the process."

"I thought what was said here doesn't go beyond these walls," she said, crossing her arms.

"Talk of medication is a little different. They have to approve it. As soon as you're eighteen, if you're still seeing me or any other therapist, talk of medication will be just between you and your therapist."

Cat sighed. "There's no way in hell my parents are gonna agree to medicate me. My brother was medicated. For depression. He **molested** me. And... I'm not very thrilled with the idea, either."

"Your brother is a lot sicker than just being depressed, Cat. He has a disease. It's called pedophilia."

"Pedophilia is sexual attraction to **prepubescent children**. I'm seventeen years old and pretty far along in my puberty days," Cat said as she stood up. "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do. But I don't have the patience for this."

"It would go a lot smoother if you would tell me everything that's going on and what you went through."

"What do you wanna know!" Cat snapped. "Huh? You wanna hear that my brother lusted after his own little sister? That he could possibly have done it to the baby? You wanna hear that while I was fucking sleeping, he ate me out like my pussy was cotton candy at the county fair and made me cum better than my own boyfriend ever has? Like, fuck man, I don't wanna think about it! It's done and over with! So is this therapy shit!" She shouted before walking out of the room, leaving her therapist stunned.

* * *

"Straight to your room, young lady," Adam said.

"Fuck **off** , I'm going," Cat snapped as she pushed past her parents and towards the stairs.

Tara sighed, closing the door after Jade walked in with a baby carrier. "Give her some breathing room, Adam. Jade, how 'bout you help me with dinner?"

"Sounds lit," Jade said, heading towards the kitchen.

As Tara entered the kitchen, she sat her purse on the table and got a glass pan out of a cabinet while Jade sat the baby carrier on the table. "Thank you for coming to her appointment," she said. "I knew something was going to go wrong."

"Nothing went wrong. She got mad. That's not wrong of her to do."

"She acted unprofessionally."

"She's not a professional, Mom. She's a seventeen-year-old girl. She's a child," Jade said as she opened the fridge. "What am I getting out?"

"Tortillas, cheese, olives, enchilada sauce, hamburger, green onions and taco seasoning," Tara said. "I know she's a child. But she didn't have to act the way she did. She overreacted."

"It was her first time in therapy. You can't expect it to go perfectly. That's unfair expectations. She told the therapist exactly what she asked, she wasn't in the wrong."

"She could have used a better choice of words," Tara said as she started layering tortillas in the pan.

"Yeah. But, she was upset and annoyed. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, yanno? When I started therapy, I got banned from an entire building because I threatened to slice my therapist's body up and watch her organs fall to the ground while vultures came to enjoy the feast."

Tara's face scrunched up. "Yeah, I remember your mother telling me about it. It still haunts me."

"I'm just saying, go easy on Cat. She's got mental things going on with her. Her attitude is going to change. It's not pleasant, but it's normal," Jade shrugged. The baby started fussing and she made her way to the table, lowering the carrying handle. "Hey, what's the matter, little miss?"

"She's probably hungry. There are some bananas in the fridge if you'll feed her, I'll get dinner ready."

"Okay. C'mere, Tabby." Jade unbuckled the baby from her carseat and kissed her cheek after picking her up. "You wanna eat? I wanna eat. I'm hungry, too," she said, placing the seven-month-old in a high chair.

"Anybody ever tell you you're gonna be a really good mom some day?"

"Yeah. You. All the time. But, I don't want kids," she said, making her way to the fridge.

"You'd be great at it."

"Yeah. And Robbie Shapiro would be great at ventriloquism, but that doesn't mean he should do it because it's creepy and weird."

"That has nothing to do with being a mom."

"No, but my point is, just because you're good at something doesn't mean it's the right thing for you. Yanno?"

"I see your point."

"If everyone else would see my point, I'd be a much happier person."

"If everyone would do things your way you'd be a much happier person."

"Truer words have never been spoken."


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Cat sighed, walking through the doors of Hollywood Arts. She didn't want to be at school, but she couldn't avoid it forever. As she walked down the hall, she stopped at Tori's locker, leaning against a nearby locker as she watched the brunette shuffle books from the locker to her bag.

"You still haven't gotten rid of that monster bag?" Cat asked.

Tori looked at her. "I like my bag."

"Yeah, yeah. Um... Did your... dad say anything about me?"

Tori shook her head. "No. He said he handled a matter with you, but he never talks about his cases. Did everything get cleared up?"

"Uh... Kinda. Just... tell him I said thank you, okay? I haven't had a chance to tell him myself."

"I will. You wanna come over after school?"

"Sure. I have to be home by five. I have therapy tonight."

"That's doable. I'm sure Dad can drop you off on his way to the station."

"Okay. That'll work."

"Are you okay? Mentally?"

Cat shrugged. "I dunno. I guess so."

"Well... I hope you are. I hope things get figured out. And if you ever need to talk, I'm here."

"I appreciate it. I'll be okay."

"Okay. Just know I'm here."

Cat nodded and let out a small breath as Daniel walked up to her. "Um... What are you doing here and not at school?" she asked.

"We have a late start today," he said. "Just wanted to see my girl before a long day," he said before kissing her lips.

She smiled, fixing the collar on his shirt. "Well, I appreciate it. I miss you. We should do something this weekend."

"How bout today after school?"

"Oh, um... I don't know if I can. I'm gonna go to Tori's after school and then I have therapy tonight. Maybe if I get home at a decent time? Or tomorrow, even."

Daniel nodded. "Okay, I guess. What's up Tori?"

Tori looked at him as she closed her locker. "I'm going to class. See you there, Cat," she said before walking off.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "What's her problem?"

"Well, I mean..." Cat started. "You're her ex... I'm one of her best friends. I imagine it bothers her a little."

"Why doesn't she just not hang around then?"

"She doesn't stick around long when you're here. It's awkward for her, Danny..."

"It shouldn't be."

"But, it is, babe... There's nothing we can do about that. She does the right thing. She removes herself from the situation."

"How long you got before you have to be in class?"

Cat looked at her phone. "About forty-five minutes. Why?"

"Come with me?"

"For what?"

"So you can do exactly what I just said."

Cat grinned as he kissed her neck. "I know where an unused utility closet is. Follow me," she said before taking his hand and leading him up the stairs.

* * *

"You're late," Jade whispered as Cat sat next to her.

"I know, but it was for a good reason," Cat whispered back.

"And what's that reason?"

"I was with Daniel."

"Doing?"

"Daniel."

Jade rolled her eyes. "You two have sex way too much, you need help."

"We do just fine on our own, thank you."

"Hey, guys," Tori whispered.

"Yeah."

"I don't wanna hear about you and my ex having sex."

"Then don't listen," Jade whispered.

"It's kinda hard not to hear when you're right next to me."

"Then move."

"Stop," Cat whispered. "It's fine. I'm sorry, I'll keep it in mind."

"Cat, Tori and Jade," Sikowitz said. "Why are you talking while I'm teaching?"

"Why are you teaching while we're talking?" Jade asked.

"Well, I..."

"That's what I thought."

Cat scoffed. "Be nice to him. We'll stop talking, Sikowitz."

"No you won't. The bell's about to ring, everyone out."

"We still have twenty minutes of class left."

"Close enough. Get out."

As everyone got up and left, Cat stayed seated in her chair.

"Cat. You coming?" Jade asked.

"I'll be there in a few minutes. I gotta talk to Sikowitz about something," Cat said.

"Don't keep me waiting."

After Jade left, Cat let out a small breath. "...Dad? We need to talk."

Sikowitz looked at Cat for a few seconds. "You seem upset."

"I am... Something happened a few weeks ago. With Chris... um... it's really bad, Daddy..."

"Come sit," he said, sitting on the stage and patting the spot next to him.

Cat sniffled and made her way to the stage sitting next to him. "Um... the police took Chris."

"What did he do?"

"He did some things that he shouldn't have."

"If he didn't then he wouldn't be in jail. What happened?"

Cat's eyes filled with tears as she fidgeted with the hem of her dress before looking Sikowitz in the eye. "He molested me," her voice cracked. "And um... I stabbed him. I ran to Jade's house and her parents called the police. Mom and Adam made me start therapy. I hate it..."

"Why didn't you tell me when this all happened?" Sikowitz asked, pulling her into a hug.

"Because I didn't want you to think anything bad of me..."

"I'll never think anything bad of you."

"If I lived with you instead of Mom none of this would have happened... If she let me do what I wanted, I never would have been in this situation."

"Don't blame your mother. Chris is the one that's in the wrong."

"Yeah, but if she didn't make me stay there it wouldn't have happened. If I was with you... If I was with you, Chris wouldn't have been able to touch me."

"We both know your mother had her reasons."

"Stupid reasons. What makes her think you're an unfit parent? If you were unfit to be around kids, you wouldn't be a teacher. I don't wanna live with them anymore, Dad..."

"Until you're eighteen, you have to do what Tara says. We had an agreement when we divorced. I would still get visitation rights as long as I paid alimony."

"But, it's not fair that all you get is visitation. I'm not five years old anymore, Dad. I'm old enough to make my own decisions. I don't want to live with them anymore."

"If you moved out, you'd miss Tabitha too much."

"Yeah, I'd miss her, but... I need to do what's best for me. I can't live in that house anymore. I've had nightmares of Chris since he molested me and I'm tired of being scared. I know he's in jail, but... The fear is with me at all times."

"This is something we need to talk to your mom about, Cat."

Cat looked at him for a few seconds. "...Do you not want me to live with you?"

"What? Cat, nothing would make me happier, but it still had to be cleared with your mom."

"She's never gonna say yes."

"And if she doesn't agree then there's not long until your birthday."

Cat sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "I wish things weren't so complicated, Dad... I wish Mom hadn't flown off the handle. I wish she hadn't married Adam. I wish my name hadn't been changed..."

"You can change it back. A name isn't the end of the world. Just try to stay positive, okay? I don't wanna see anything happen to you."

"Something already happened, Daddy..."

"I know. And I'm sorry. More than I can express. But, you can come to me whenever you need to. I love you."

Cat nodded. "I love you, too."

* * *

"And the stupid bitch pissed me off so I walked out, that's all there is to it," Cat said as she sat next to Jade at a table.

"But what did she say that made you so mad?" Jade asked.

"She just... she wanted to know exactly what happened. I didn't wanna relive it. I wanna forget about it."

"You'll never forget about it, baby girl."

"I know! But - but, she... I told her in great detail what he did to me. I don't wanna go back, Jade..."

"You have to. She specializes in cases like yours."

"Well, I don't wanna talk about my brother performing oral sex on me, okay? The only person that should ever do that is Daniel."

"I have a feeling he does it a lot."

Cat grinned. "He does."

"I said I have a feeling, not that I wanted confirmation."

"Well you got it anyways. All of my thoughts go away when I'm with Daniel. The sex is... therapeutic."

"What's therapeutic?" Robbie asked, sitting at the table.

"Sex with Daniel," Jade said.

"I thought you were with Beck."

"Cat. Cat has sex with Daniel."

"Oh..."

"Robbie doesn't like talking about sex," Cat said.

"I don't mind it, it's just... awkward to hear about you and Daniel doing it."

"Cat and Daniel doing what?" Tori asked as she sat next to Cat.

"Having sex," Jade said.

"Oh, gross."

"Like you didn't already know. They fucked this morning before school."

Tori's eyes widened. "Is that why he came here? To get in a quickie?"

"Sure was," Cat said, popping a grape in her mouth. "Best forty-five minute quickie I've ever had."

"Caterina Valentine to the office," the intercom announced. "Caterina Valentine to the office."

Cat sighed and stood up, grabbing her backpack.

"Did you get caught with Daniel?" Jade asked with a grin.

"No. Lane wanted me to come in."

"Good luck. He's gonna ask you the same things that therapist did."

"Nah. He's nicer."

Cat made her way back inside the building, finding her way to the office. "Caterina Valentine. I was called up," she said to the secretary.

"Lane's waiting for you in his office," the woman said, pointing to a door.

"Thanks."

Cat went to Lane's office and opened the door, closing it behind her. "Hi, Lane."

"Hi, Cat," Lane said. "Take a seat."

Cat sat on the couch with a small sigh, leaning against the arm of the couch.

"I was notified of your incident with your brother."

"Oh..."

"Your parents are concerned."

"Tara is my parent. Adam isn't. It's none of his business."

"Your dad is concerned too."

"I just talked to him today, how do you know that he's concerned?"

"Because he said he's concerned about you."

Cat sighed. "Is Dad the one that told you?"

"No. The Valentines did. Erwin didn't tell me what you said, just that he was concerned and wanted me to talk to you."

"Why?"

"Because you've gone through an ordeal, Cat. I'd like to help you if I can."

"My therapist can't even help me, Lane... I'm broken. My head is jumbled. My life is... it's worthless. I have nothing to live for."

"Are you contemplating suicide?"

"Wow, straight to the point."

"Cat."

Cat sighed, running her hand through her hair. "Yeah. I have. I've thought out every little detail."

"Have you tried?"

"No... I keep chickening out. I've tried to try. But I can't do it. Do you know what that's like? Wanting to kill yourself but not being able to? It sucks."

"It would suck a lot for everyone that cares about you if you managed to do it."

"Why does everyone keep telling me that? Why is **my** suicide about everyone else? Why can't it be about how I feel?"

"It is, Cat. I just want to find a way to make you feel better. You're not worthless. You mean a lot to a lot of people. Your dad would go crazy if you ended your life."

"Dad's already crazy, he purposely drinks spoiled coconuts to get high. Come on, this is Sikowitz we're talking about. He'd be just fine. Everyone would be just fine without me."

"Erwin wouldn't be just fine. Jade wouldn't be. Robbie wouldn't be. Your little sister wouldn't be."

"She's seven months old. She won't miss me."

"You take care of her when your parents are away. She'd suffer."

Cat stayed quiet for a few seconds, picking at her nails. "I'd miss her..."

"Is she the one thing you'd do anything for?"

"Yeah..."

"Then stay alive for her. For as long as you possibly can."


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** This chapter contains sexual themes.

* * *

 **CHAPTER FOUR**

"It's been way too long," Daniel said, kissing Cat's neck as he laid his underwear clad girlfriend on her bed.

Cat giggled, letting her fingers slide through his hair. "I told you we have to wait until Mom and Adam leave before we can have sex. One of them will walk in on us and flip out."

"They know we're sleeping together," he said as he nipped at her neck.

"Yeah, but they don't wanna see it or hear it, which is why we're waiting."

"Well then, we'll just be quiet," he said kissing her lips.

Cat pulled away from a kiss, resting her hands on Daniel's shoulders. "Wait," she said. "I need to tell you something."

"Those words are never good," Daniel said.

"Yeah..."

"Oh, god... you're not pregnant are you?"

Cat's eyes widened. "God, no! No, it's nothing like that." It was nothing he needed to worry about, anyways.

"Oh, thank god. Then... What's going on?"

"It's about what happened with Chris. Why I'm in therapy. All that."

"Is everything okay?"

Cat shook her head. "Not really. Um... Chris got arrested. I have to go to court to testify against him."

"Why? What happened?"

Cat laced their fingers together, keeping her attention on their hands as she sat up. "Um... Chris molested me."

Daniel looked at her for a few seconds. "What?"

"I... Yeah... He did stuff..."

"Are you okay?"

Cat nodded. "A little wary, but... I'm alright."

"Babe, what happened? How did... Just, how does something happen like that?"

"I was asleep... I woke up and he was there... He made me ride him..."

Daniel looked at her for a few seconds. "...What?"

Cat nodded, tears filling her eyes. "When I woke up, he was eating me out and I had an orgasm. Several..."

"Cat..."

"I still can't sleep very well... I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this when it happened, I just... I wanted to forget and I thought the worst and I'm so sorry that I kept this from you, baby..."

"You... you **rode** him. Like you do to me."

Cat nodded. "He made me..."

"That's... Cat, that's gross."

"I know."

"But you still did it."

Cat looked at him, confused. "I... no, I didn't. He forced me."

"You were on top."

"Yes."

"Then you could have gotten away, but you didn't. You decided to stay and get off with your own brother."

Cat shook her head. "Daniel, that's not... No! He **held** me so I couldn't get away, that's not fair of you."

"You came with your brother."

"Yeah, but... It wasn't my fault, babe... I thought it was at first, but it wasn't. I can't control how my body reacts."

"So when we get off it's not your control."

"It's different... When we're doing it, it's because we both want to. I didn't wanna do anything with Chris, I **want** to have sex with you. There's a big difference."

Daniel got up from the bed and shook his head. "I can't handle this right now, Cat."

"What?"

"You let your brother do what only I'm supposed to do to you. I forgave you about the Robbie thing, but I can't forgive incest."

Cat scoffed. "There's nothing to forgive me for! I didn't do anything wrong!"

"You cheated on me with Robbie!"

"I'm talking about Chris!"

"Well, I don't wanna talk about that, it's disgusting!"

"Well we're not gonna talk about the Robbie thing either!"

"I'm going home, Cat. I can't do this anymore."

"Can't do what anymore? Baby, what are you talking about?"

"I'm done with this."

"With what? Daniel!"

"Us!" Daniel shouted. "I'm done with us! I can't be with someone who cheats on me and fucks her brother!"

"I did not **fuck** Christopher! If you wanna hold the cheating thing over my head, you have every right! But, you have absolutely no fucking right to judge me for something my fucking brother did to me! I was **molested** , Daniel! I did not ask him to do those things to me the way I begged Robbie to! It's fucking different!"

"Not to me," Daniel said, opening the door. "We're done."

* * *

Cat sniffled, knocking on the door of the Shapiro household. After Daniel left, Cat ran to the one place she knew she could go - that was to Robbie's.

The door opened and Robbie's younger sister appeared in the doorway. "Hey."

"I need Robbie, where is he?"

"His room."

As Cat walked past her, Robbie's sister scoffed. "What, no 'thanks Hayden' or anything?"

Cat ignored her as she made her way to Robbie's room, walking in and closing the door behind her.

Robbie looked up from his laptop in surprise and closed it, setting it off to the side. "Cat. What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Daniel broke up with me," her voice cracked.

"What? Why?"

"Because of Chris..."

"Cat, that wasn't your fault."

"I know that! But he made it seem like it was. And then he brought up that I cheated on him with you and that didn't make matters any better."

"Why did he bring that up?"

"I don't know, maybe he knows we're still sleeping together? How should I know? I'm more pissed that he thinks it was my fault that Chris is a chomo."

"Well, you don't have to worry about him anymore. You're not together."

Cat sighed, sitting on his bed. "Robbie... I loved him."

"Did you? Because if you really did, you wouldn't have started sleeping with me."

She pushed his shoulder. "Shut up..." she said, wiping her eyes. "My point is... he broke up with me because my brother did things he shouldn't have done to me."

"It sucks. I'm sorry," Robbie said, pulling her into a hug and kissing her head.

Cat straddled him, sighing as she let her fingers play with his hair. "I wish my heart didn't hurt..."

"I wish it didn't hurt, too."

"You know what else I wish?"

"Hm?"

"I wish I wasn't so horny," she said, kissing his neck.

"Oh, do you."

"Mhm," she said as she pressed her hips into his. Her hips moved slowly as Robbie's hands rested on her backside. Her lips captured his and their tongues battled for dominance as Cat's fingers fumbled with the buttons on Robbie's shirt.

"My parents are home," Robbie said.

"So what?"

"Keep as much on as possible in case we hear them coming upstairs."

"Mm... smart," she said, letting her hands slide to his jeans to unbutton and unzip them. As soon as she freed his penis from his boxers, she reached under her skirt to pull her panties to the side before sliding onto him and letting out a small moan of relief. "Oh, god."

"Already."

Her hips moved slowly, grinding her pelvis into his. Her lips traveled around his neck, sucking at his sweet spot and biting down gently to make a mark.

Robbie's hands squeezed her backside, pulling her closer as he pulled her tank top straps down, unfastening her bra and throwing it across the room before letting his tongue graze over her nipple.

Cat let out a small moan, running her fingers through his hair. "Fuck, Robbie..."

Robbie nibbled on her nipple, sucking at it and flicking his tongue over it, an arm wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer as he moved his hips with hers.

As Cat's hips moved faster, she held her breath for a few seconds before moaning again. "Oh god, baby," she whispered.

Robbie's hands rested on her hips, pulling them all the way down against him. He pulled away from her breast and managed to stand up with her, kicking his pants and boxers off before walking a short distance to the wall, holding her against it before pushing his length in and out of her, causing the redhead to moan.

One hand rested on his shoulder while the other pushed her hair out of her face and Cat whimpered, humping him as he moved. She licked a finger and slid it over her clit, whimpering. "Fuck... Faster, please - I need you so bad," she said.

Robbie's hips moved quicker, earning a moan from both of them.

"Baby... I'm so close," she whimpered.

After a few minutes, they both let out moans. Robbie let himself flow inside of Cat and Cat gasped as her walls clenched around him as she let out another moan.

Once they came down from their high, Cat ran her hand through her hair, breathing heavily.

"God..." she said. "That was amazing," she said, kissing his neck.

"Uh, Cat..." Robbie said.

"What?"

"You're uh... You're like... leaking... something."

"Did I start my period? God, that's embarrassing - put me down, you go get clea -"

"No. It's more in your chest area."

"What?" Cat looked down at her breasts, eyebrows furrowing as she wiped the mystery liquid from her breasts with her shirt. "What the fuck..."

Robbie pulled out of her gently, placing her on the ground. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know what's going on, um... I'm - I'm gonna go to Jade's house. Ask Grace what's up. I'll let you know, okay?" she asked, fixing her underwear before grabbing her bra.

* * *

"And then we - we finished and then my boobs were like... leaking. Like, water or something," Cat said, letting out a sigh. "So, give it to me cold. Am I dying?"

Grace let out a small laugh. "No. You're not dying. Listen, all women have milk glands whether they're active or not. I think what you experienced was lactation."

"Lactation? Like... lactating? Like breastfeeding?"

"Yeah, exactly that."

"I dunno if you've realized this or not Mom, but I don't have a baby and I don't breastfeed random children."

"Well, there are two possible factors here."

"And they are?"

"One option is galactorrhea. It produces a certain hormone that makes you lactate."

"And what's the other option?"

Grace sighed. "You're not gonna like it."

"I don't like it already, my boobs are leaking weird fluids. Just tell me."

"Galactorrhea isn't very common."

"Okay? Then what else could it be?"

"Honey..."

"Mom!"

"I think you're pregnant."


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Cat's leg bounced as she sat on Jade's bed, biting at her nails. She'd done what Grace suggested; she took a pregnancy test and she was waiting on the results. Just to be safe, Grace was getting a portable ultrasound machine set up.

"Stop bouncing or I'll chop your legs off," Jade said.

"Jadelyn," Grace said.

"What? She's driving me nuts."

"You?" Cat asked. "I'm driving you nuts? You know what's driving me nuts? Possibly being knocked up at seventeen years old, that's what."

"You're the one that was having unprotected sex."

"Watch your language in front of Brandon," Grace said.

"Brandon, get out."

"Jadelyn!"

"I wanna stay," Brandon said, crawling up onto the bed and sitting in Cat's lap. "I wanna make sure Cat's okay."

"Aw, buddy," Cat said, hugging him and kissing his head. "I'm gonna be fine, kiddo. I just might be going through something I'm not supposed to yet."

"Like puggerty?"

"What?"

"Puberty," Jade said.

"Oh, no. No, no. I'm already going through puberty."

"Sounds stressful," Brandon said.

Cat laughed and kissed his head again. "It is."

A timer went off and Cat looked at Jade, then Grace. "...What do I do?"

"See what it says. The sooner the better," Grace said.

Cat sighed and scooted Brandon off of her lap before walking into the add-on bathroom. She picked the white stick up from the counter and walked back into the bedroom, sitting on the bed again. "What's the box say?"

Jade picked the test's box up and read it for a few seconds. "Two pink lines is negative, one pink line and a cross is positive."

Cat looked at the result window and stared at it for a few seconds, tears immediately filling her eyes. She let the test drop to the floor and she stood up, pacing back and forth as she ran her hand through her hair, covering her mouth with the other.

"What?" Jade asked, picking the test up. "...Oh my god. Cat..."

"Positive?" Grace asked.

"Very positive, it's bright pink."

"Honey..." she said, looking at Cat.

Cat let out a sob, sitting at the bay window as she rested her head in her hands.

"How come Cat's sad?" Brandon asked.

"She's having a baby," Jade said, pulling Brandon into her lap as Grace sat next to Cat.

"I thought babies were a happy thing. Cat's crying."

"Because Cat's still really, really young. She's not supposed to have babies yet. She's just scared, but she'll be okay. When she calms down you can go cheer her up, okay?"

Grace ran her hand over Cat's back, pulling her into a hug. "Sweetheart, you had to have known that this could happen," she said.

"I did, but I - I didn't expect it to," Cat said with a sob. "I can't be a mom, I'm not mentally stable."

"You're gonna be fine, honey. I promise. Let's calm down, I'll do an ultrasound to see how far along you are and we can go from there, okay?"

"This baby's gonna be so damaged..."

"No it's not. It'll be just fine. You'll be fine. You're young, but you're not invalid. Everything is going to work out, sweetheart. I promise."

"I don't wanna have a baby, Mom," Cat's voice cracked. "I'm not ready yet. I'm a kid, I can't take care of a kid."

"You take care of Tabby," Jade said. "You're great with her."

"She's my sister, not my baby. There's a big difference."

"Honey, it's going to be fine," Grace said. "But, we need to know how far along you are and start you on prenatals."

"Mom and Adam are gonna kill me..."

"No they won't. Your mom was your age when she had Chris. Do you know who the dad is?"

Cat sniffled and shook her head. "No..."

"Honey... is it possible that Chris is the dad?"

"No. He's never been inside of me. The only people it can be is Daniel and Robbie."

"Well... you should let them know soon, okay? Let's get an ultrasound and check on that baby."

Cat sniffled and nodded, standing up with Grace.

"Alright you two, scooch over so Cat can lay down," Grace said, turning the ultrasound machine on.

As Jade and Brandon moved over, Cat let out a small breath laying on Jade's bed. "I don't like this..."

"No teenager likes it, honey."

"Well, I don't like it even more."

"I'm pretty sure I would not like it the most," Jade said.

"This isn't about you, shut up."

"Hey," Grace said. "Watch the attitude. I need to get to your uterus, shirt needs to come up and shorts need to come down."

Cat sighed, pulling her shirt up and pushing her shorts down to just above her nether region. "Ultrasounds don't hurt right?"

"No. They're painless. The gel is just cold," Grace said, squirting some gel on Cat's stomach.

"So, what's this thing gonna show?"

"Your baby. I'll get a heart beat, be able to see the baby. It's mostly to see how far along you are and to make sure the baby visually looks okay."

"Can you see it yet?"

Grace laughed a little. "Gimme just a minute," she said, rolling a remote over Cat's stomach. After a few seconds, a whooshing noise played through the speakers of the machine and she smiled. "That's your baby's heartbeat."

"Is it healthy?"

"I'm still looking, just calm down." A few seconds passed and Grace pointed to the screen. "Right here. That's your baby."

Cat looked at the screen and covered her mouth. "Oh my god, it looks like at actual baby, just super tiny..." she said.

"And super healthy. You're about eleven weeks. You want a picture of the scans?"

Cat nodded and looked at Jade. "You're gonna be an auntie."

"Yeah, don't brag, you're still a kid," Jade said.

* * *

Cat cleared her throat, knocking on Daniel's door. Was she a fool for coming here when she knew he wanted nothing to do with her anymore? Probably. But she couldn't just not tell him. What if the baby was his? It wouldn't be right for her to not tell him about it.

As the door opened, she looked up, eyes stopping on Daniel, who rolled his eyes.

"What do you want?" Daniel asked. "I told you we're done."

"Yeah, I'm not here to win you back, asshole. I'm here because I have some news."

"Is that news that you stopped fucking your brother?"

"I did not fu - whatever! Think what you want!" she snapped. "I have news that's more important than that."

"Did you stop sleeping around?"

"No, actually - I didn't, I'm still sleeping with Robbie. For the record, he does things for me that you never could or would."

"Whatever, Cat. You can leave now," Daniel said as he started closing the door.

Cat held her hand out. "I still need to talk to you. You deserve to know."

"Know what? Do you have some sort of STD I need to be checked for?"

"No."

"Then spit it out."

"I'm pregnant."

Daniel stared at her. "What?"

"I'm pregnant. I'm eleven weeks. There are only two possibilities and you're one of them. The main one."

"Oh you mean you weren't sleeping with Robbie eleven weeks ago?"

"I was, but he wasn't around for about a week and eleven weeks ago was right around the time I stayed here with you while your parents were out of town."

"That doesn't mean it's mine."

"We had sex every chance we got that week. Several times a day, everyday. We fucked like it was going out of style."

"It's not mine, Cat."

"I'll get a paternity test if you want. But, this baby could very well be yours."

"Well, I'm telling you that it's not."

"You can't be sure of that."

"Well I am. It's not mine, so leave," he said, closing the door.

Cat sighed and ran her hand though her hair before sliding her hand over her stomach. "Let's hope this goes smoothly..."


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

"Caterina, I'm Dr. Hamilton," a doctor said as she walked into the room.

"I go by Cat," she said.

"Alright, I can do that. What brings you in today?"

"I found out I'm pregnant. Like, a few days ago. My best friend's mom is an obstetrician and she has a home ultrasound, so she did it and said I'm about eleven weeks but that she could also be wrong because she's not an ultrasound tech, so she suggested coming in and getting a thorough exam and see what I needed to get started on prenatals."

"I can absolutely do that for you. If you'll lay back and pull your pants down a little I'll get right on that," Dr. Hamilton said as she turned on a machine. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"I have a daughter about your age. Do you go to Northridge?"

"Hollywood Arts."

"I've heard of it, it's a pretty popular school. Always on the local news."

"We've won every Shakespeare Festival we've done and brought home a trophy for every sports championship we did. We're the top performing arts high school in the country."

"That's a pretty cool title to have. Do you enjoy the school?"

Cat nodded. "Mhm. I love it."

"Do you get scholarships?"

"Yeah. Well... I'll probably lose mine, but... I dunno, I guess later on in life I'll be thankful."

"Whatever happens, I guarantee you will be. Are you ready to see your baby?"

"Yeah."

Dr. Hamilton squirted some gel on Cat's stomach and rolled the remote around for a few seconds before the baby's heartbeat sounded. "Sounds strong. From the looks of it though, you're about fifteen weeks."

"Oh my god. That's so far along. How come I'm not showing?"

"Not all women show. You might be a late bloomer. Baby looks like it's up further in your ribs, but I assure you it's normal. What was it that made you want to take a pregnancy test? Did you miss your period?"

"I did, but I hadn't noticed. I'm pretty active. I play softball, basketball, volleyball and tennis so I hardly ever really get a period. But uh... I was telling my best friend's mom about something that happened and she suggested taking a test."

"What was it that happened?"

"Uh..."

"Cat, I'm a doctor. Nothing you say is embarrassing here."

"Oh, it's pretty embarrassing."

"There could always be something else going on with you too."

"Um... Okay, so I was having sex. And uh, when I had my orgasm the guy I was with noticed my boobs were leaking, so I told my friend's mom, and that's when she said to take a test."

"It was a good call."

"Is there anything I need to do? I mean, prenatals but what else?"

"Do you smoke or drink?"

"I smoke occasionally, but only every few weeks or so."

"I'll suggest you don't smoke at all during your pregnancy, although that's not frequent enough to cause major damage. It's just not a good idea in general to smoke during pregnancy."

Cat nodded. "Does this get me a free pass in gym class?"

"It does. No heavy lifting, no excessive moving. I'll send you home with a pamphlet that you can read through, but I'm sure you'll have plenty of advice from your mom and your friend's mom."

"I will. Can I get the scans?"

"Absolutely. I'll print out information like the estimated date of conception and all that good stuff so you'll know exactly when it happened and I'll include my number in case you have any questions. Right now I'm listed as your primary obstetrician, but it wouldn't be a problem to switch you over to a primary of your choice. To change any of that, you'll just call my number and I can do all that for you. I'll get this jelly cleaned off of you and you'll be free to go."

Cat nodded. "Thank you."

* * *

Just under an hour later, she was back at home. While she stared at the ultrasounds, she waited for Daniel to pick up his phone.

 _"Hello?"_ Daniel asked.

"It's Cat."

 _"What do you want?"_

"I wanted to give you some information about the baby."

 _"It's not mine. I don't want it."_

Cat sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Danny, please just let me talk."

 _"Fine."_

"You're right. The baby isn't yours. It's Robbie's."

 _"Yeah, that's what I thought. How'd you figure it out?"_

"The conception date. It was around the time you went to Austin with your parents."

 _"Uh huh. Is that all you wanted?"_

"Well... yeah. I guess it is. Just that the baby's not yours."

 _"Good,"_ he said. _"Bye."_

"Daniel, I -" Cat heard the dial tone and sighed, hanging up before she let her phone rest on the bed.

"Cat? I got called into the hospital," Tara said from downstairs. "I have to leave in about an hour, would you mind babysitting Tabitha?"

"Sure, Mom," Cat called back.

After sitting there for a few seconds, staring at the ultrasound she was hit with realization. "Fuck... I never told them," she whispered to herself.

She got up from her bed and took the scan with her, quickly but carefully making her way downstairs. "Mom? I gotta talk to you and Dad."

"Can it wait, sweetheart?" Tara asked.

"Not really. It's important."

"Okay. He's in the living room. I'll be there in a minute, take Tabby," Tara said as she handed the baby to Cat.

Cat kissed Tabby's cheek, making her way into the living room and she sat in a chair across from the couch. "Mom's gonna come in here in a minute. I have to talk to you guys about something."

"Is everything okay?" Adam asked.

"Yes and no. I'm healthy. But it's not the best news."

"That's suspicious."

"I know."

Cat put the scan next to her in the chair and stood Tabby up, holding her hands. "Look at you Sissy, those legs are getting strong."

Tabby babbled and Cat smiled, kissing her cheek. "I love you," she said.

"Alright, I'm here," Tara said, sitting next to Adam on the couch.

Cat sat Tabby back in her lap, keeping an arm around her belly to keep her from falling. "Okay. You're not gonna like this. But I'd like us all to be mature about it."

"What's going on, honey?"

"Dad, cover your ears."

"Why?" Adam asked.

"It's about sex."

As Adam's face scrunched, he covered his ears and Cat sighed.

"Okay, so Robbie and I were having sex. And when I had my orgasm I star-"

"I can still hear you and I don't like any of what you said," Adam said.

"Well it's over now. Anyways... I started lactating."

"Lactating?" Tara asked.

Cat nodded. "Yeah. It freaked me out and I didn't wanna worry you so I went to Grace. And because she was closer."

"And what happened? Is everything okay?"

"Technically, but you're not gonna like what's going on."

"What is it?" Adam asked.

"I'm pregnant."

"Honey..." Tara said.

"Excuse me?" Adam asked. "You're what?"

"Pregnant," Cat repeated. "I'm fifteen weeks."

"How did this happen?"

"I had sex."

"Caterina Hannah Valentine."

"What? You know how babies are made, you made Tabitha."

"We're adults."

"Mom was my age when she had Chris and she was only nineteen when I was born."

"That's your mom, not you."

"Well, it is now. It's not like I can go to the hospital and be like 'hey, I made a mistake, you wanna take this kid out so I don't have to be a teen mother?'"

"You can go to the clinic."

"Adam," Tara said.

"My daughter is not going to be a **slut**."

Cat furrowed her brows. "I've slept with two guys, and I'm not **your** daughter. **My** father would never react this way."

"Erwin is crazy."

"He is not **crazy**!" she snapped, standing up and handing Tabitha to Tara. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk shit on my father like that. He is a good man. He loves me. He always makes sure I'm okay."

"He never comes around during holidays or your birthdays."

"Because of **you**. You talk shit to him every time you're in the same room, so he avoids conflict. He always makes it up to me. He takes me out on birthday dates, he takes me out for the holidays. If I was able to spend more time with him, he'd be able to be 'more fatherly' but you don't like him so guess who suffers? Not just Dad, Adam. Me, too. And I'll be damned if my baby doesn't get to see him. He is this baby's grandfather and that's what he'll be known as."

"I'm your father, I raised you."

"Because I wasn't allowed to be around Dad when I was little. I'm lucky I got into Hollywood Arts, otherwise I never would have been able to spend any time with him. What you two did to that man was fucked up. Taking his children away and then pretending we're all one big, happy family. Making me lie about who my father is."

"The Wests know Erwin is your dad, honey," Tara said.

"Oh, **one** family. How mesmerizing. I'm gonna go get Tabby's things ready and I'm gonna go talk to him about this. And then I'm going to Jade's. I'll be back home before dinner - since someone here thinks a woman's place is in the fucking kitchen," Cat said before walking out of the room.

* * *

"Well look at you, you look just like your sister," Sikowitz said as he looked at Tabby.

"Does she?" Cat asked. "I don't know what I looked like as a baby."

"It's like looking at you. Is everything okay? You don't usually come over."

"I know. I'm sorry about that. I promise as soon as I'm eighteen, I'll visit a lot more often and we'll see each other more than just at school. I just can't piss off Adam too much, yanno?"

"Is he violent?"

"No. Just has a temper. He yells. I yell. Just doesn't go the way either of us want it, so it's easier to not piss him off. I actually came over to talk about babies," Cat said as she let Tabby down to crawl around.

"Babies?"

"Yeah. Um... I got some news. Terrifying news."

"Like what?"

"Do you want a coconut first?"

"No, I want my daughter to tell me what's going on."

"...I'm pregnant."

Sikowitz looked at her for a few seconds. "Like having a baby, that kind of pregnant?"

"There's only one kind of pregnant, Dad..."

"I was afraid of that. Are you okay?"

Cat nodded. "Yeah. I'm over the initial shock. I'm fifteen weeks along. I'm pretty much past the morning sickness stage, so I didn't get hit with it. And um... the baby's Robbie's."

"The one with the puppet."

"Yeah, that one," Cat said as Tabby pulled herself up with the chair she was sitting at. "Hi, Sissy."

Tabby babbled, opening and closing one hand while she held Cat's leg with the other.

"Up?" she asked, lifting the baby up into her lap. Cat smiled when Tabby signed 'eat'. "Eat? You want a bottle?" When the baby signed 'eat' again, Cat sat Tabby next to her in the chair and got into the diaper bag, pulling out a bottle filled with water and a formula can.

"You're gonna be a good mom, kid," Sikowitz said.

Cat smile, scooping some of the formula powder and dumping it in the bottle. "I hope so. I've had enough practice with this one. She called me Mama the other day. I thought Mom would be really upset about it, but she was excited. I know I'd be upset if my baby called someone else Mama for the first time."

"That's how I felt when you and Chris started calling Adam 'Dad'."

"I only call him that at home. I mean, he's my dad too... He did help raise me, you know that."

"I know. I'm thankful for it. He took good care of you and Chris."

"He still does. We just don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things. Ever since I started at Hollywood Arts, he's been reminding me that he raised me and all that... I think he feels like I don't view him as a father figure anymore, but I mean... you're my dad. Not him. And I couldn't thank him enough for taking care of me like I'm his daughter, but... I miss you. I want you as my father, not him. You didn't do anything wrong. You've never done anything that isn't fatherly towards me. He threw out there that you don't come around, but it's not like we never see each other, yanno? I see you every day, I come over when I have the chance. And when I'm eighteen and can do whatever I want, I promise you'll see me a lot more often. And the baby. My baby, not Tabby. I mean, Tabby too, but yanno..."

"I understand, Cat. You don't have to explain it to me."

Cat let out a small breath, screwing the nipple on the bottle and shaking it up before handing it to Tabby and putting the formula can back in the diaper bag. "I know, I just feel bad when I talk about him. It can't make you feel good knowing that I call someone else Dad."

"It doesn't, but he is your dad. He did raise you. He was there when I wasn't and that's what a dad does. I was around when I could be and when your mom allowed it, but you have his name, he adopted you. You're his child."

"I'm still a Sikowitz. Legally, I'm still Caterina Sikowitz. I'm just Valentine on some documents. Like at school. I never legally had my name changed. I've just been Valentine for so long I'm used to it. Chris is still Sikowitz, too. On his medical files and everything."

"Any word on him?"

Cat shrugged. "I'll be summoned to court when it's time for his trial. But right now he's in a mental institution. When the police came to talk to me, they took him to the hospital for some wounds and then he went to jail for a few nights before they were able to get a history on him. When they found out he was considered clinically insane, they sent him to Briarwood Institute. I hope he's okay..."

"He hurt you."

"I know. But he's messed up in the head, Dad. I really don't think if he'd been in his right mind that he would have done it. I know there's something off up there. When he's lucid, he's the sweetest guy in the world and would do anything to keep me safe. I think he just... had a mental break that night. I really don't think he had control over it."

"You need to make sure to say that in court."

"I will."

"You wanna stay for dinner?"

Cat looked at her phone to check the time. "Sure. I'll let Adam know and tell Jade I'll be over after."

"She can join us if she's able to."

"I'll ask her. She likes coming here."

"Why?"

"It's a teacher's house and you're cooky, so yanno. Plus, I think she's still trying to figure out the human-shaped doorway," she said, gesturing towards the doorway.

"We don't talk about that."

* * *

Cat laughed as a piece of banana flew across the room and landed on Jade's plate. She covered her mouth when the goth glared at her to stifle her giggled.

"Tabitha Renee Valentine, we don't throw food," Jade said.

"Oh, come on. She's havin' fun, aren't you Sissy?" Cat asked, tickling the baby's belly.

"Yeah, yeah. She's just lucky I was done."

"Are you done, missy? Should we get you cleaned up so you don't make a mess all over dad's house?"

"It's already a mess, there's paper everywhere."

"I have a very strategic organizing system," Sikowitz said.

"You don't have an organizing system."

"Truer words have never been spoken."

After Cat got Tabby cleaned up and changed her diaper and then helped Sikowitz with the dinner dishes, she let out a small breath as she stood up after getting the baby buckled into her carseat. "I guess we better go," she said. "It's almost nine. I gotta get Tabby to sleep. I'll come back sometime next week though or something," she said, hugging Sikowitz. "I love you, Dad."

"Love you too, kid. You too, Jade."

"That's weird," Jade said, walking out of the apartment.

Cat rolled her eyes. "Bye," she said before grabbing the diaper bag and Tabby and walked out after Jade. "It's not weird to love your daughter's friend, Jade," she said as she caught up to her.

"No, it's a little weird."

"Is not. Do you mind driving? I don't like driving in the dark."

"You're gonna have to take your car back home."

"You can take it and bring it back Monday. Pick me up for school and then I'll drop you off when school lets out."

Jade shrugged. "Whatever."

The ride to Cat's house was mostly silent except for Tabby's babbling. Cat let out a small yawn and rested her head in her hand before looking at Jade for a few seconds.

"Stop staring at me," Jade said.

"I'm further along than Mom thought."

"How far along are you?"

"Fifteen weeks."

"Damn. That's pretty far. What's Daniel gotta say about it?"

"It's not his. It's Robbie's. Daniel was out of town from the week before to the week after I conceived."

"I told you messing around with Puppet Boy was fucked up to do."

"Yes, I know. Everyone that knows I cheated has told me. I know it was screwed up."

"Just saying. Karma's a bitch."

"My baby is not a bitch."

"Didn't say it was."

"But the baby is my karma for cheating."

"...Okay, pretend something else is your karma."

"Daniel broke up with me. That's karma."

"That's major karma. That can be the bitch."

"I think it's more like I'm the bitch."

"How much you wanna bet Tab's first curse word is gonna be 'bitch'?"

"I think it's highly likely."

"I'd be proud."

"Of course you would. Such a bad example."

"The worst."


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

"Ow!" Cat shrieked as a door flew open and smacked her in the face. "God, don't you know how to open a door like a normal human fucking being!"

"I'm Sorry!" Sinjin said. "It was an accident... you shouldn't stand in front of the doors like that."

"I was going **outside**! Fuck my life..." she said, wiping her nose and sighing when she saw blood on her hand. "Jesus Christ..." she said before making her way to the girls bathroom. When she got there, she saw Jade and Tori primping, so she grabbed some paper towels and held them to her nose.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" Tori asked at the sight of the blood.

"Don't walk near any of the doors if Sinjin isn't in plain sight."

"What did that clumsy oaf do to you?" Jade asked in an accusatory tone.

"He opened the door like a maniac and hit me in the fucking face with it."

"I'm sure he didn't mean to," Tori said.

"Go be his friend then, I don't need you on my side."

"I was just saying, Sinjin wouldn't do that on purpose."

"I know Tori, fuck. It doesn't make it okay that he opens the door like he's a tornado ripping through the Valley."

"Tornadoes don't come through the valley."

"Tori!"

"You're not doing that right," Jade said, walking to Cat and taking the paper towels away. The second she did, Cat sneezed and the goth gasped, closing her eyes and letting out an angry growl.

Cat and Tori both covered their mouths, Tori letting out a small laugh and Cat silently fearing for her life.

"I'm sorry!" Cat said. "I didn't know it was gonna happen!"

"If you weren't carrying my godchild right now I'd fucking **murder** you," Jade said, still seething with anger but throwing the paper towels away and grabbing some new ones.

"Carrying your godchild?" Tori asked.

"Thanks a lot Jade, I wasn't gonna say anything to anybody yet," Cat said.

"Oops," Jade said unapologetically as she pressed the paper towels against Cat's nose.

"What are you talking about?" Tori asked. "Are you pregnant?"

"Fifteen weeks," Cat said.

"Oh my god, that's so far along."

"I know."

"You're still so little. I mean, I noticed you gained some weight, but you really aren't much bigger than normal."

"I know, I'm carrying pretty far back. For now."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I mean, you're pregnant. You're still a kid, aren't you nervous?"

"Not really. I've got the experience. Now, if you mean nervous to give birth, then absolutely cause my shit's gonna rip and I'll be walking funny."

"Just like the first time you did anal," Jade said.

"Oh my god, shut up."

"I told you that you wouldn't like it and that it would hurt."

"Yeah well, I had to find out somehow. We don't talk about that."

"Can we go back to the fact that the most innocent girl in school is pregnant?" Tori asked. "How did that happen?"

"I had sex, Tori. You and Adam, you'd be a great tag team. He asked me the same thing."

"What are you gonna do? Is it Daniel's? Who am I kidding, of course it's Daniel's."

"It's not," Cat said. "It's Robbie's."

"What? How?"

"She cheated on Daniel," Jade said.

"What? Why?"

Cat sighed. "Because I guess I wasn't in love with him the way I thought I was. I prefer Robbie..."

"Why?" Jade asked. "He's a nerd."

"Be nice."

"No offense, but... if you cheated on Daniel, who's to say you won't cheat on Robbie?" Tori asked.

"I say. I **won't**. I've already made that promise to myself."

"Is there something you're trying to get from Daniel?"

"I cheated on him, Tori. There's nothing I want from him."

"What do you want from Robbie, Cat?"

"I wanna make him cum but I also wanna make sure he eats."

"So, fuck buddies," Jade said. "Do it. You need to get laid, he's willing to give you the dick."

"God, I need to get laid so bad."

"Getting laid is what got you knocked up," Tori said.

"Yeah I know that, but it's not like I can get pregnant again. Besides that, pregnancy makes you extremely horny, I swear I get off like five times a day sometimes."

"You're having sex that often?"

"No, I'm **masturbating** that often. It's so bad. Everything makes me horny and don't get me wrong, it feels really, really good but I'm also really tired of it."

"So try using something other than your hands."

"I don't use my hands, I use vibrators and dildos and pillows and anything that'll cause friction so I can cum and it's like it just isn't enough, I'm still not satisfied after my orgasm."

"Do we have to talk about this in public?"

"We're in the bathroom Tori, if you're uncomfortable because you're a virgin then leave, Jesus Christ."

"I'm - I'm not -"

"You're a virgin," Jade interrupted. "She's open about this stuff. You should hear her at our girl nights, she gets extremely graphic."

"Is my nose still bleeding?" Cat asked.

Jade removed the tissue from Cat's nose and watched for a few seconds. "No, you look like you're okay. Keep some tissue with you though. If you sneeze again - which better not be on me - you can start bleeding again."

"I said I was sorry," Cat said, turning around and pulling some paper towels out before putting them in her backpack. "I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Where are you going?"

"Find a janitor's closet."

"Jesus Christ."

"A janitor's closet? Why?" Tori asked.

"She's gonna get herself off."

"I can't stand it, Jade, I gotta get it taken care of," Cat said.

"Please remember to wash your hands," Tori said.

"I'm not a fucking ratchet, I know to clean up after."

"Why a janitor's closet though? Why not just in a stall?"

"Because you two are in here and you don't even like hearing about it, let alone hearing someone masturbate. And I'm a gusher, and there are mops I can use to clean it up with in a closet."

"Gusher?"

"I'm leaving," Cat said, walking out of the bathroom.

"What's a gusher?"

"She squirts sex juices when she has her orgasms, Vega. That's what it means," Jade said.

"...Gross..."

* * *

"Fuck you!" Cat snapped as she walked away from the group.

Jade chuckled, poking her food with a fork. "You pissed off your little girlfriend. Way to go, Shapiro."

"I don't know what happened, all I asked was if she gained weight," Robbie said, picking something up from the ground.

"What's that?"

"It flew out of Cat's backpack," he said, flipping it over and staring at it. It took him a while to understand what it was, but when he did he finally looked at Jade. "Is Cat pregnant?"

Jade stopped and looked at him. "What?"

"Is Cat pregnant?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Don't lie to me Jade, just tell me."

"What is that?" Tori asked.

"It's an ultrasound with Cat's name on it. Is someone gonna answer me or not?" Robbie asked, turning the picture around to show them. "Is Cat pregnant?"

"...It's not my business," Jade said.

"Jade."

"What! Look, if you wanna know so bad then go fucking ask her. It's not my business so I'm not gonna talk about it."

Robbie sighed and walked away, leaving Beck and Andre a little stunned.

Beck leaned against the table and looked at Jade for a few seconds. "Is Cat pregnant?"

"It's not my business," Jade said.

"Jade."

"Don't you wanna hear it from her?"

"I wanna know if Cat's pregnant."

Jade sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Yes. She's pregnant."

"Who did it?"

"What?"

"Who knocked her up? I'll kick their ass. Was it that jackass she was dating? I'll find him and I'll kill him," Beck said.

"Calm down. Don't get riled up."

"My **sister** is pregnant, Jade. She's a **baby**."

"She's the baby of the **group**. She's not a baby. She doesn't want anybody to know, okay? She wants to be the one to break the news. Don't ask her about it."

"She's -"

"She's growing up, okay? She's upset about it enough as it is. She needs to talk to Robbie."

"Why Robbie?"

"Because he's the baby's father."

" **Robbie** did this to Cat?"

"They did it together."

"I'll kill him."

"No. You'll leave it alone. You'll keep your mouth shut, you'll just be a support system and be there for her when she needs a hug. She'll need a lot of them..."

* * *

"Cat," Robbie said as he caught up to her.

"Go away," Cat said, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"We need to talk."

"Later."

"Now," he said, holding the ultrasound up.

Cat stopped in her tracks and she quickly took it out of his hand, pulling him into Sikowitz's class room. "Sikowitz. I need the room for a few minutes."

"You know I'm the teacher right?" Sikowitz asked.

"Erwin!"

"I'm going. You get ten minutes."

After Sikowitz left the room, Cat stuffed the ultrasound in her backpack. "Where did you find that?" she asked.

"It fell out of your backpack. Were you you ever gonna tell me that he got you pregnant?" Robbie asked.

"He's not the one that got me pregnant."

"He's the only one that could have."

"Are you forgetting about our affair? Cause, I was fucking you while I was fucking him and it was a fifty-fifty chance that I was gonna get knocked up by one of you."

"What are you saying?"

"You're the father, Robbie."

"How far along are you?"

"Almost sixteen weeks."

"Sixteen weeks."

"Yeah. That's why I look like I've gained weight," she said with a small glare.

"Okay, how was I supposed to know you were pregnant, Cat? I'm not a psychic. Why would you wait sixteen weeks to tell me about this?"

"Because I just found out myself a few weeks ago."

"Weeks? You've known for weeks and you didn't tell me?"

"Robbie, I'm still trying to cope with it! I'm not -"

"It's been ten minutes," Sikowitz said from the doorway.

"It's been two!" Cat snapped. "Dad, please!"

Sikowitz walked out and closed the door.

"Dad?" Robbie asked.

"Look, I'm still getting used to the idea that I'm pregnant at all, I couldn't just call you up and say "hey guess what, you got me pregnant" and leave it at that. I wanted to be mentally prepared for your reaction, and this is not the reaction I was prepared for."

"Maybe you should keep your backpack zipped up when you have pictures of your insides in it."

"It's not my insides, it's our fucking baby!"

"I know that now!"

Cat let out a frustrated breath, running her hands over her face. "Can we please talk about this after school tomorrow? Come to my house, we'll sit down and we'll talk."

"Why not today?"

"I'm having dinner with my dad tonight. I'm going to his place after school."

"You live with him."

"Adam's not my father, don't insult me. Look, I'll explain this whole confusing situation another time, okay? I promise, we'll talk everything out, but I need to get to class and I have to pee, so this conversation's pretty much over right now."

"Okay... Please be safe."

"Yeah, I'll try not to drown in the toilet."


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"You don't wanna go in there," Tori said, stopping Cat from entering the school building.

"I don't want to. But I have to," Cat said.

"You really, really don't want to, Cat."

"What's going on?"

"Jade help me out here," Tori said as Jade walked out of the building.

"Help you what?" Jade asked.

"Tell her she doesn't wanna go in there."

"You really don't, but it's not like she isn't gonna find out."

"What the hell is going on!" Cat asked.

"There's a lot of writing about you in there," Tori said. "Like... mean writing."

"Okay? I've had stuff written about me in the boys bathrooms before too."

"But this is messed up."

Cat sighed and pushed through her friends, walking into the school and stopping in her tracks when she saw what had happened. There were photoshopped pictures of her with a huge belly and graffiti on the walls saying 'Cat Valentine is knocked up' and 'she doesn't know who the father is, do you know?'.

Tears filled her eyes as everyone looked at her. There were whispers. There were giggles. There was a little bit of laughter. There was a feeling in the pit of her stomach that seeped to the back of her throat - but before she knew what hit her and she could do anything about it, she vomited on the floor and Tori and Jade immediate ran to her aid while a few other students laughed.

"Jesus," Jade said, pulling Cat's hair back.

"Do you think it's the baby?" Tori asked.

"I think it's the stress she finally just succumbed to."

* * *

"Can't we suspend the student that did this?" Sikowitz asked the principal.

"We have to have proof of them doing it," Helen said.

"It wasn't a Hollywood Arts student," Cat said. "It was Daniel Macini from Sherwood."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that. He's the only one that would have done this, Helen. He's doing it because he's pissed off at me."

"He can't be mad at you for being pregnant."

"Yes he can. I got pregnant because I cheated on him. He has every right to be mad. But vandalizing a school and breaking and entering is illegal. That's not okay."

"Well, I'll look at the security footage and when we get a clear picture I'll call you into the office to identify him."

"Can't we call the police about it?"

"We can. And we will. In the meantime, I have a janitor taking the posters down and bringing them to the office. I'm very sorry this was done. If you need to speak to a counselor at any time, feel free to come in."

Cat nodded and sighed. "I'm just gonna go to lunch. I'll see you in class, Dad," she said as she stood up.

"Come to me if you need to," Sikowitz said.

She nodded again before leaving the office and she made her way out to the Asphalt Cafe, sitting between Robbie and Jade. "Helen's gonna see what she can do. She's calling the police to see if there's anything they can do about the vandalism."

"There is," Tori said. "If they can catch him on camera and he showed his face, there's no denying that it was Danny."

"I know he's the one that did this. He's the only one that knew I'm pregnant."

"I mean, what if it was just -"

"It was Danny!" Cat snapped. "God, I'm so tired of you giving him the benefit of the doubt all the fucking time. He's not a good person, Tori. He's evil. He's disgusting. I wasted my time with him."

"You wasted his time, you're the one that cheated on him."

"I fucking know!" she yelled, catching the attention of everyone at lunch. "I know I fucked up! I know I cheated on him! But you don't know what was going on behind closed doors with us, Tori!"

"No one deserves to be cheated on, though..."

"He beat the living fuck out of me! I started going to Robbie because he beat me! And on top of that, he constantly called me a liar and he accused me of fucking my brother after I told him Chris molested me! So excuse the fuck out of me, but me cheating on him doesn't even come close to the mental and emotional and physical damage he caused me!"

"What a slut..." someone whispered.

"I knew the Valentines were psycho," another muttered.

Cat sniffled, tears sliding down her face as she heard people start whispering and her breathing got heavier as she looked around, seeing everyone staring at her. She looked away from everyone, staring at the middle of the table to focus on something else other than the eyes on her. "People are looking at me," she whispered.

"You just told the entire school what happened to you, Kitten..." Jade said.

Cat's breath got even heavier and she stayed in place as tears filled her eyes. "Make them stop," she whispered. "Please make them stop."

"We can't just make people stop looking at you."

"Please... please make them stop."

"Kitten..."

Cat looked around, sniffling. "Stop staring at me," she said. "Stop staring, stop looking at me!"

Unfortunately, that only made more people look her way.

The redhead started breathing even heavier, a panic attack finally setting him. "Stop staring at me!" she screamed. "Stop staring!"

"What's wrong with her," someone whispered.

Robbie gently turned Cat away from everybody and started walking her towards the building, but was pushed away.

"Let go!" Cat screamed. "Don't touch me! Stop looking at me, stop talking about me, just fucking stop!"

Jade cut in and took Cat into her arms, letting her best friend sob uncontrollably into her chest as she rubbed her back. "Calm down. Calm down, you're okay."

Cat sobbed, unable to stop. "There's nothing wrong with me, Daniel is the reason this is all happening..." she whine, more sobs following.

"Calm down, Baby Girl. It's okay," Jade said as she slowly lowered them both to the ground, holding Cat's upper half and rocking them back and forth.

Cat continued to sob, the group of friends huddling around so the other students couldn't see what was going on.

"Cat..." Robbie started.

Beck raised a hand to hush him. "Leave her be, she'll be fine," Beck said as he knelt down to the girls. "Cat... your baby gets upset when you get upset. You need to try to calm down."

Jade kissed Cat's head. "Come on, Kitten. You gotta calm down. Think of the baby, okay? Just think of the baby. Everything you feel, your baby feels."

Cat's uncontrollable sobs eventually calmed to occasional sobs every few minutes. Even after the bell had rung, the group stayed put until she was calmed down. As soon as she was breathing normally and just sniffling, Beck pushed her hair out of her face.

"How you feeling?" Beck asked.

"Better..." she whispered.

"Are you okay?"

Cat nodded as she sniffled. "I just wanna go home..."

"Okay. We'll get you home."

"What was that?" Tori asked. "The freak out... what happened?"

"She had a panic attack," Beck said. "It happens. She has them all the time."

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah. She's just tired. She needs to sleep. Come on, Kiddo. I'll get you to the office," Beck said, carefully picking her up.

Cat whimpered and laid her head on his shoulder. "Thank you..."


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

 **A/N: This is short and unsatisfying, but it's just a filler chapter so I apologize for the long wait and the short chapter, but I'm getting there.**

* * *

"How you feeling?" Andre asked as he sat on Tori's couch next to Cat.

"I'd feel better if people would stop asking me how I'm feeling," Cat said.

"Sorry. I just worry about you, Lil Red. You're my homie, my little shorty."

"Stop, Andre."

"Please don't make her mad," Tori said. "I've been yelled at three times in the forty-five minutes she's been here."

"Because you don't know how to mind your own business," Cat said as she stood up and walked toward the kitchen. "I don't know why I have to keep telling you guys I don't wanna talk about the baby. I don't wanna talk about Daniel. I just wanna have a good time with my friends."

"What if we play a game?" Beck asked. "You like games."

"I guess."

"We're not gonna make you talk about anything you don't wanna talk about."

"Tori's not allowed to talk at all."

"This is **my** house," Tori said.

"I think we should all just chill and have a good time," Jade said. "Like we used to."

"You mean before I got pregnant?" Cat asked.

"I mean like before your sadistic brother went apeshit and ruined you."

Cat stayed quiet for a few seconds. "I'm not gonna talk about him."

"You don't have to," Beck said. "Jade shouldn't have brought him up."

"My dad keeps asking when court is... he wants to be there."

"Isn't Adam gonna go anyways?" Tori asked.

"Adam isn't my dad, and I don't give a fuck whether he shows up or not because he just keeps using Christopher's illness to excuse his actions."

"He raped you. That should never get excused."

"He didn't rape me."

"He still shouldn't be excused for it. He should be locked up."

"He is locked up, your dad's the one that took him in."

"I'm confused," Andre said. "If Mr. Valentine isn't your dad, who is?"

"Who else do you know that's random, says crazy things, and basically lives in their own world?" Jade asked.

"Sinjin."

"Sinjin is younger than Cat, he can't be her dad."

"Do we know him?" Tori asked.

"He's the reason your abomination of a sister made it into Hollywood Arts."

"That was Sikowitz, not Cat's dad."

Cat rolled her eyes. "Sikowitz **is** my dad, Jesus Christ on a stick."

"What? No way."

"Yeah."

"Then why is your last name Valentine?" Andre asked.

"Because when Mom married Adam, they changed my name."

"Why did they do that?"

Cat shrugged. "I dunno. Why did your parents give you the typical black guy name? They just did, right?"

"I guess so."

"That was kinda racist," Tori said.

"It was not," Cat said, sitting at the table.

"It kinda was," Andre said. "But I know what you meant, it's all good. I mean, Caterina's the most white girl name you can think of."

"I dunno, I think Tori's a pretty white name. She might have Cat beat," Jade said.

"I'm not even white. And neither is Cat, she's Italian," Tori said.

"Italians are considered white," Cat said. "Is there ever a day you don't say something stupid?"

"Is there ever a day where you're not a complete bitch? You're turning into Jade."

"I've taught her well," Jade said, patting Cat's head, only to get smacked away.

"I'm not a dog," Cat said.

"I wanna go back to the whole 'Cat's a Sikowitz' thing," Andre said. "What? Seriously?"

"Yeah. When I was born, they'd already gotten halfway through the divorce. My mom said if he paid alimony, he'd still get visitation."

"So you still got to see him growing up."

Cat shook her head. "Not really. I always knew he was my dad. But I hardly ever got to see him. I didn't get to finally really have a relationship with him until I started at Hollywood Arts. I knew he worked there, so I jumped at the chance to audition and I got in."

"How did you know you'd get in?" Tori asked.

"Because I have a great voice."

"Conceited," Trina sang as she walked down the stairs.

"At least I have talent," she sang back.

"Take that back."

"No. Seriously dude, you suck."

"She's not wrong," Jade said. "You're the worst."

"Dad," Trina said as David walked into the house. "They're saying I don't have any talent."

"You don't," David said. "Cat, good to see you."

"You too, Mr. V," Cat said.

"What about me?" Jade asked.

"You scare me."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

* * *

Cat's leg bounced nervously as she held Robbie's hand, her own hand rubbing her stomach. Today was the day. The day Chris got his sentencing. The day she could make or break his life. She loved her brother... but what he did was evil and wrong.

"Calm down," Robbie said, placing a hand on her knee.

"I'm nervous... I feel sick to my stomach, the baby's going insane and won't stop fucking kicking me..." Cat said, laying her head on his shoulder. "I just wanna go home and sleep."

"You slept all day yesterday," Adam said.

"So? I'm tired, I don't feel good. I need to sleep, this baby wears me out."

"That's your own fault."

"Shut the fuck up," she muttered.

"Watch your mouth," Tara said, handing Tabby to Cat. "I'm gonna go ask how much longer it's going to be."

Cat kissed Tabby's cheek and stood her on her thighs, holding onto her waist. "Hi, chubby butt."

"Mama," Tabby said, playing with Cat's necklace.

"Sissy."

"Mama."

"Sissy."

"Mama!" Tabby said, letting out a sudden rack of sobs.

Cat laughed and kissed the baby's cheek, laying her in her arms as she rocked back and forth. "You are the crankiest, chill out," she said, patting her sister's diaper.

"Way to go, piss off the baby," Adam said.

"She's your kid, you could do something about her you know."

"You're the one that pissed her off."

Cat rolled her eyes and looked at Tabby. "Your daddy's a dick."

"Watch yourself, Caterina."

"Stop calling me that."

"It's your name."

"And I hate it," Cat said as she stood up. "Come with me, please. I need air," she said, looking at Robbie.

"Sure," Robbie said as he stood up.

Cat walked over to Tara. "I'm gonna go outside for a few minutes. I need air before I punch your husband in the dick."

"Stop talking like that," Tara said.

"He's pissing me off. I'll be back. Did they say how long it would be?"

"Another ten minutes at least."

"Okay. We'll be back in before that," she said as she started out of the courthouse. As they walked out, Jade was walking up the steps with Beck. "Hey."

"Hi," Jade said, taking Tabby from the redhead. "Hey, fatass. What's up?" she asked, kissing the baby's cheek.

"Be nice to her, she's precious," Beck said, running his hand over the baby's peach fuzz covered head.

"Court starts in about ten minutes," Cat said.

"Why are you out here then?" Jade asked.

"Adam pissed me off."

"Well, let's go inside and we can vent after court. I'm gonna burn."

As Jade walked inside, the other three followed behind and Cat smiled when she saw Sikowitz walking down the hall.

"Daddy," Cat said as she walked to him and hugged him.

"What's he doing here?" Adam asked.

"I wanted him here, that's what."

"Why?"

"Because he's mine and Chris's father. Mind your own business."

"I don't think - "

"I don't care what you think, shut the fuck up."

"Cat," Sikowitz said. "We'll keep our distance, calm down."

"What's wrong now?" Tara asked as she walked up.

"Adam's pissed because Dad's here," Cat said.

"It's fine. He should be here, he's their dad."

"Whatever," Adam said.

"Sikowitz vs. Sikowitz," a bailiff announced.

"That's us," Tara said. "Let's go."

* * *

"I'd like to call up Mr. Sikowitz's sister to the stand, Caterina Sikowitz," a lawyer said.

"Go head," the judge said. "But please remember, Mr. Lawson; keep it appropriate. She is still a child."

"Yes, Your Honor."

Can sighed as a bailiff escorted her to the stand and she sat down, staring at the microphone nervously.

"Miss Sikowitz," Mr. Lawson said.

"Valentine," Adam muttered.

"Shh," Tara said, nudging him.

"Could you please state your full name for the court," Mr. Lawson said.

"Caterina Hannah Sikowitz, but I also go by Caterina Valentine," Cat said.

"Why is that?"

"When my mother remarried, they changed my name from Sikowitz to Valentine on some documents, but not all of them."

"Why would you only change your name on some documents?"

"That's something you'll have to ask my mother, sir. I was only three years old."

"Can you explain to the court what went on between you and your brother?"

Cat stayed quiet for a few seconds, clearing her throat. "He uh... he molested me."

"How?"

"With his hands. Orally. There was genital contact, but he was... he was never inside. It was all outside."

"And, Miss Sikowitz, I understand you were asleep? Unless I'm mistaken."

Cat shook her head. "No, that's right. I was asleep at first."

"Have you ever had a sexual relationship with your brother before this?"

"When I was little, it used to happen. Not very often, but I remember it."

"And what did your parents do about it?"

"Nothing. I never told them about it. I was little, I just thought it was something brothers taught their sisters."

"How old were you approximately?"

"Maybe five or six when it started. I was around thirteen when I finally stopped letting him."

"And did he try to touch you between the age of thirteen to when this latest incident happened?"

"He tried, but I locked myself in my room away from him."

"When this latest incident happened, why couldn't you get away from him and lock yourself in your room?"

"He held me down. I was already in my room. He's stronger than me, he held me down to the bed."

"No further questions, Your Honor," Mr. Lawson said as he sat down.

"Mr. Matthews, you're welcome to start," the judge said.

"Miss Sikowitz..." Mr. Matthews said as he stood up. "I understand you're pregnant, correct?"

Cat nodded. "Yes. What does that have anything to do with this?"

"Your Honor, can we please have Miss Sikowitz refrain from questions?"

"I'd like to know what her pregnancy has to do with this case as well, Mr. Matthews," the judge said.

"You said my client's genitals were never inside yours, correct?"

"Yes," Cat said.

"So then, how do you explain your pregnancy?"

"I had sex," she said, furrowing her eyebrows. "You know how babies are made don't you?"

"Miss Sikowitz, if you're so traumatized from this incident, why were you having sex?"

"Because I'm perfectly capable of still having sex."

"Why would you want to have sex if you were sexually abused?"

"It affects everyone differently, Mr. Matthews. Sexual abuse victims usually either have nothing to do with sex, or have a more sexualized personality. My abuse didn't affect me in the way the sex was impossible. I don't understand what any of this has to do with Christopher."

"Well, you claim your brother molested you, but you're still having sexual intercourse. It just seems like if you were traumatized enough that you wouldn't have anything to do with sex at all."

"I just explained to you what sexual abuse does to its victims."

"Are you a psychiatrist, Miss Sikowitz?"

"I'm studying psych and my stepfather is a psychologist. I've learned a bit about psychology."

"How do you know that your baby isn't your brother's baby?"

Cat scoffed. "My baby is my friend's baby. I've never had sex with Christopher, this baby was conceived with my best friend."

"Would you be open to a paternity test?"

"What the fuck for! I didn't have sex with my brother!"

"Miss Sikowitz, please calm down," the judge said. "Mr. Matthews, move on from the subject. Immediately."

"Yes, Your Honor," Mr. Matthews said. "Miss Sikowitz, what do you want to happen to your brother?"

"I want him to get the help he needs."

"So, you don't want him put in prison?"

"Not particularly. He's not mentally stable enough to handle prison. He'll get killed in prison. I don't want that."

"Then why did you have him arrested?"

"You do realize he still committed a crime, right? He molested me. He still deserves a punishment and a treatment."

"His punishment would be prison, you realize that?"

"I do."

"Your Honor, may I cut in here for just a moment?" Mr. Lawson asked.

"Go ahead," the judge said.

"Miss Sikowitz, despite what happened, do you love your brother?"

Cat nodded. "Of course I do. He's my brother."

"How can you love someone that violated you the way he did?"

"Because... it's not his fault. He's sick. He doesn't mean to do those things. When he's lucid, he's the most amazing person... He just... He's sick. I know he didn't mean to hurt me. But he needs help. He needs to get better. I want him to get better."

"Do you want him in prison?"

"No. I want him to get the help he needs. If he wasn't sick, he wouldn't have done it. I just want him to get better. It's not fair to him that he's being controlled by a disease."

"Miss Sikowitz, would you forgive your brother?"

"I already have. I might still get pissed off about it, but I've forgiven him. It's not his fault."

"Would you feel comfortable being around him?"

"Not until he's had treatment. Not unattended."

"It's my understanding that Mr. Sikowitz wasn't on medication at the time of the incident."

"He was prescribed, but our mom and stepfather weren't supervising him take the pills. They trusted him to remember."

"Do you blame your parents for what happened?"

"No. It was still Christopher that did it."

"So your parents deserve no punishment."

"They aren't the ones that molested me, so no."

"What do you hope comes out of this, Miss Sikowitz?"

"I want my brother to get better. His doctors haven't done enough for him. He deserves better. I want him treated."

"I understand you stabbed your brother."

"I did."

"Where did you stab him and with what?"

"I used a nail file and stabbed him in the testicles."

"Why were his genitals the first place you thought of?"

"Because I knew it would slow him down enough for me to get decent enough to leave the house."

"Do you realize that you could have caused major damage to him?"

"Do you realize that he caused major damage to me? He molested me. He forced me to get off with him."

"Do you realize that what you did was a crime, stabbing him?"

"It was in self defense, so no; it wasn't a crime."

"Do you believe you'll do jail time?"

"No. I did nothing wrong."

"No further questions, Your Honor," Mr. Lawson said.

"Mr. Matthews do you have anything else to ask Miss Sikowitz?"

"No, Your Honor," Mr. Matthews said. "I would, however, like to call on Jade West."

Cat and Jade looked at each other, Jade's eyes wide.

"What? Why me?" Jade asked.

"Because of the police report. You're involved in it," Mr. Matthews said.

"Yeah because my parents called them."

"Can we call her up, Your Honor?"

"Just for a few minutes," the judge said. "Miss West, if you'd come up to the stand please."

Jade sighed and passed Tabby to Tara before walking up to the stand and trading places with Cat.

"Would you state your full name for the court, please," Mr. Matthews said.

"Jade West," Jade said.

"Your full name, please."

Jade sighed. "Jadelyn August West."

"Miss West, how long have you known the Sikowitzes?"

"Since I was born."

"How do you know them?"

"Cat's my best friend. Our mothers are best friends so we grew up together."

"Are you close with Mr. Sikowitz?"

"Not so much these days, but I was as a child."

"Have you ever been victimized by Mr. Sikowitz?"

"Not that I can remember."

"So you're saying it's a possibility?"

"I don't know. Maybe before I was old enough to remember, but I don't recall anything going on."

"Have you ever thought Miss Sikowitz was just saying he was touching her to get him into trouble?"

"What? No. Why would she lie about it? Are you stupid?"

"Miss West," the judge warned.

"No. Come on, she came to my house when this happened. She cried in my arms for hours. All night. She was distraught, she was so stressed out and upset about it she was throwing up. She wouldn't fake that."

"Do you think maybe the throwing up could have been morning sickness from her pregnancy?"

"She never got morning sickness."

"Do you think she ever exaggerated?"

"Absolutely not."

"Do you think she went too far stabbing her brother?"

"No. He deserved it. She had to do something to get away."

"Would you have stabbed him?"

"I would have killed him."

"Strike that from the record," the judge said. "Miss West, that's the only free pass I'll give you for saying that."

"I don't need it striked. I would have fucking killed him with my bare hands had I caught him hurting her."

"You've caught him before, haven't you?" Mr. Lawson asked.

"Yeah. We were eleven."

"What did you do?"

"I broke his nose."

"Why was this incident not reported to the police?"

"We convinced him to tell Tara and Adam that we were playing and I got to close to him."

"And they believed you."

"Obviously."

"So you would lie for Miss Sikowitz," Mr. Matthews interrupted.

"I've lied for her before."

"How do we know you're not lying for her right now?"

"Because I'm on the stand, I'm not stupid enough to lie in court."

"Would you lie for her if she did something illegal?"

"No. But I'd try to help her avoid the consequences."

"No more questions, Your Honor."

"Mr. Lawson, do you have any other questions for Miss West?" The judge asked.

"No, Your Honor," Mr. Lawson said.

"You can step down, Miss West."

Jade made her way back to her seat and she sighed. "I hope I didn't fuck anything up for Cat," she whispered.

"You didn't," Tara whispered back.

"Due to the results of an observation that's been held on Mr. Sikowitz since he's been placed in the Briarwood Mental Institution, I can see that Mr. Sikowitz has self control during very stressful times," the judge said. "He's been put through several situations and needed no help in controlling himself. With that being said, Christopher Erwin Sikowitz will be sentenced to life without parole," he said before banging his gavel.

Cat's eyes filled with tears and she looked at Mr. Lawson. "Please let me say goodbye to him. I need to say goodbye."

"Your Honor, Miss Sikowitz would like to say goodbye to her brother," Mr. Lawson said.

"Very well," the judge said.

Cat sniffled and she made her way to Chris, hugging him and letting out a sob. "I'm sorry - I'm so sorry, Chris..."

"It's my own fault," Chris said, kissing her head. "I'm okay today. I wasn't that night. And I'm so sorry that I hurt you," his voice cracked.

"You're sick, it's not your fault."

"I'm the one that did it. I love you, Cat. I love you."

"I love you so, so much," she sobbed. "I'll come see you, I promise. My baby will know how amazing you are. It'll know that you're a good person."

"You're having a baby?"

Cat sniffled and nodded, placing Chris's hand on her stomach where she felt the baby kicking. "Can you feel it?"

Chris nodded. "Yeah... that's amazing. You're growing a person."

Cat laughed and nodded. "Yeah..."

"We have to go, Mr. Sikowitz," a police officer said.

Cat's smile disappeared and tears filled her eyes again. "I love you, Chris," her voice cracked.

"Love you too, kiddo," Chris said before he was escorted out of the room.

Cat let out a sob as she made her way back to the family, immediately hugging Tara. "I'm sorry, Mommy, I so sorry," she sobbed.

"Calm down, baby," Tara said, running her hand through Cat's hair. "It's okay, everything is going to be fine. I promise."

She sobbed and wiped her eyes, turning towards Sikowitz and burying her face in his chest. "I just ruined his life," she said.

"No you didn't," Sikowitz said.

"I did, they just gave him a death sentence, he's going to get killed," she said with a sob.

"He's going to be fine."

Cat sobbed again, muttering things that were unintelligible, but everyone just let her cry to get it out.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

* * *

Cat smacked Robbie's hand away from her stomach. "Stop touching me."

"I was just gonna see how the baby was doing," Robbie muttered.

"It's not moving and I'd like it to stay that way."

"Caterina, Dr. Hamilton will see you now," a nurse said.

"Thank the lord," she muttered, getting up and following the nurse as Robbie followed behind her.

"Just take a seat on the bed, she'll be in, in just a few minutes."

"Thanks."

As the nurse left, Cat sat on the bed and let out a small breath, running her hand over her swollen belly. "I'll be so happy when this baby gets here. I'm tired of being pregnant."

"You've been pregnant for six months," Robbie said.

"Seven. Long enough to be tired of it."

"It'll be over before you know it."

"I hope so."

"Hi, Cat," Dr. Hamilton said as she walked into the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired. I wanna go home and sleep."

"As soon as we're done with this ultrasound you can do just that," she said with a small laugh. "Lay back and lift your shirt up. Pants need to come down just a little so I can get to your pelvic area."

As Cat got herself ready, Dr. Hamilton got the sonogram machine warmed up and turned on. "Alright, kiddo. You ready?"

Cat nodded. "Yeah."

Dr. Hamilton squirted some jelly on her stomach and rolled the remote around for a few seconds. "Hm."

"What?"

"Has the baby been moving around lately?"

"It's been pretty still for a couple days."

"I see," Dr. Hamilton said as she kept sliding the remote around. "I'm gonna use a heartbeat monitor instead, okay?" she asked, picking up a small handheld device.

"Is everything okay?"

"I'm gonna check."

Dr. Hamilton slid a small wand across Cat's stomach for a few minutes and sighed, placing the heartbeat monitor down. "Cat... I'm not getting a heartbeat on any of my monitors," she said, wiping Cat's stomach off.

"What does that mean?"

"It means the baby doesn't have a heart beat."

"But... but it's okay right?" Cat asked as her eyes watered.

"I'm afraid not, sweetheart... I'm so sorry that I even have to utter the words, but something went wrong on the inside and the baby's not alive."

"My... it's dead?"

"I'm sorry, honey."

Cat covered her mouth as she let out a sob as Robbie held her free hand. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing. You didn't do anything wrong. The baby just wasn't strong enough."

"That's not fair..."

"We'll do everything we can to find out what went wrong, okay? But right now, we need to get you admitted so we can get labor started and get your baby delivered so you don't end up sick. Would you like me to call your family and have them come up?"

Cat sobbed and shook her head.

"I'll call everybody. Thank you, though," Robbie said. "Can we still get the ultrasound scans please?"

"Absolutely. I'll bring them up once we get you two into a room. I'm so sorry about this."

"Thank you," he nodded.

As Dr. Hamilton left the room, Robbie sniffled and kissed Cat's hand. "I'm sorry, Cat... I'm so sorry, if I could change anything I would."

"No one can change anything," Cat whined. "Why? Why did this happen to us? It's not fair..."

"I know. But God just had different plans for our baby than we did."

"God can suck my dick."

* * *

"Baby girl," Jade said, immediately walking to Cat's bed and hugging her. "I'm so sorry... you're gonna be alright, okay?"

"It's not fair," Cat sniffled.

"It's not. It's absolutely not."

"They started her on Pitocin," Grace said, making her way to the end of the bed. "I'm gonna see if you dilated any, okay?"

"Okay..." Cat said. "Is my dad on his way?"

"Robbie said he couldn't get a hold of him, but I stopped by his place to let him know what was going on. He's on his way up, he was just waiting for parents to pick up their kids."

"Okay..."

"Kids?" Robbie asked.

"He was doing another in-character exercise," Jade said.

"You're up to two," Grace said. "It's working pretty quickly."

"How long's she been on it?"

"About an hour or so. We'll bump it up here in a few minutes."

"Why?" Cat asked. "If it's working, how come I need more?"

"Because we need to get your contractions up. You need to be dilating at least a centimeter every hour and we want your contractions every two to three minutes, lasting at least a minute each. It can take a while."

"I just want it out..."

"I know honey. Was your mom on her way?"

"Yeah," Robbie said. "She actually just texted and said she's here, but she needs help finding the ward so I'm gonna go get her and bring her up."

"I'll go with you," Jade said.

"You gonna be okay until we get back?" he asked looking at Cat.

"Yeah," Cat said.

Robbie kissed her lips lightly before he and Jade left the room and he stayed quiet for a few minutes while they walked down the hall.

"How are you doing?" Jade asked, for once being genuinely concerned.

Robbie shrugged. "Better than Cat, probably. Still heartbroken, though."

"You have every right to be. It's your baby too. We're all gonna be here for you guys."

"Even you?"

"Especially me."

"I appreciate it. I know Cat does too."

"I'd do anything for Cat. I may not like you much, but you're still my friend. My best friend's... whatever you two are."

"Thank you," he said quietly.

"Hey."

Robbie looked at Jade for a few seconds and was genuinely surprised when the goth hugged him. He hugged her back after a few seconds.

"I'm so sorry you guys are having to go through this," Jade's voice cracked. "It's not fair and it's not right, and no one, especially Cat, deserves to go through this pain."

"Thank you. You're single handedly the most important person to Cat. I know she'll deny it in front of me, but you are."

"She's too pure for this world. She deserves nothing but the best."

"I know."

"Robbie, Jade," Tara said as she walked down the hall with Tabby on her hip and Adam by her side.

"Hi Mom," Jade said, taking Tabby from her.

"Honey," she said, hugging Robbie. "It's gonna be alright."

"It doesn't feel like it, but I know it will," Robbie said. "Cat might be a little more difficult."

"How's she doing?"

"She's just... crying."

"Mom says she's on Pitocin. She's dilated to two right now so hopefully she'll be able to deliver tonight," Jade said.

"I hope so," Tara said.

"She just keeps saying she wants it out," Robbie said. "Why couldn't they just give her a c-section?"

"Because if she gives birth then it'll be that much easier for future children. That's how they do most stillbirths."

"I feel like it's just torturing her."

"It'll be easier for her in the long run, honey."

"But it's not easier on her now."

"It will be. Trust me, she'll be thankful that she went through with it. Where's her room?"

"This way," Robbie said as he started back towards Cat's room.

Once they got there, Tara walked over to Cat and hugged her, kissing her head. "Hi, baby..."

"Mommy..." Cat's voice cracked.

"I know, sweetheart. I know. I'm so sorry."

"Hey, kiddo," Adam said softly.

"Hi," Cat said with a sniffle.

"How you doing?"

"How would you be doing if you found out your baby was dead?"

"Not good."

"Exactly."

"I'm gonna let you have some family time," Grace said. "I'll be back in about an hour to check your dilation."

"Okay. Thank you, Mom," Cat said as Grace hugged her.

"Anytime honey."

* * *

"Alright, Cat..." Grace said, taking her gloves off. "It's time to push. You need to decide who you want in here with you, you can only have four people."

"Um..." Cat sniffled, looking at Jade. "You know I'd choose you in a heart beat but I really want my sister..."

"I know," Jade said. "I'll come back in to see you, okay? I'll go get her. She went to the cafeteria."

"Thank you... Have my dad come in too, please? I want him here."

"I'll tell him."

"I'm right here," Adam said.

"My actual father," Cat said. "I want my dad."

"I am your -"

"Honey," Tara said. "She wants Erwin in here for this. Respect it."

Adam sighed and nodded. "Sure. I'll leave."

As Jade left the room, Adam followed, closing the door behind them.

"Cat wants you with her during delivery," Jade said as she walked up to April and the rest of the group. "She's gonna start pushing in a few minutes."

"Okay. Take the fatty for me," April said, holding Tabby up.

"How's she doing?" Sikowitz asked.

"She seems to be handling it better. She's not crying anymore, but I think she's just out of tears," Jade said as she rested Tabby on her hip. "She wants you to be in there with her too."

"Oh. Okay. I can do that."

"I don't know why," Adam said. "Since I'm the one that raised her."

"I did what I could that followed Tara's guidelines."

"You only talk to her now because she's your fucking student. If she didn't go to that school, she wouldn't have anything to do with you."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"It's the truth."

"No it's not, shut up," April said. "All you do is bitch, bitch, bitch because Catey's been keeping in contact with him - it's hard not to have contact with a teacher that you see every day at school."

"He shouldn't be in there - I should. I raised you."

"Yeah, but you're a dick, so..." April shrugged. "It's Catey's decision. Deal with it. Go cry to your mommy about it if you want to, but she wants Dad in there and that's what's gonna happen. This day is already a shitty day for her, and I'm not gonna let you make it any worse. Man up, grow up, and shut the fuck up about it."

"Watch your mouth with me, young lady."

"Or what, you'll backhand me again?"

Sikowitz's eyebrows raised. "He hit you?"

"That's why I went to boarding school."

"You hit my daughter?" he asked, turning to look at Adam.

"She mouthed off to me," Adam said.

"So? Would you backhand a toddler if they did it?"

"No, it's child abuse."

"Keep your hands off my kids if you don't want a coconut shoved up your ass."

The group of friends simultaneously gasped and covered their mouths, but April took Sikowitz's arm and led him into Cat's room.

"Stupid mother fucker," Adam muttered.

"Hey," Jade said. "Sikowitz is her father. She wants him with her. Get over it. Cat doesn't need you shit talking her father when she's giving birth to her dead baby."

"Whatever."

"God, I hope Cat's alright," Tori said.

"She will be," Jade said, sitting down with Tabby in her lap. "I can feel it."

* * *

"Alright Cat," Grace said as she sat at the end of Cat's bed. "As soon as we get the baby out and get you cleaned up, we'll get you in a new bed. Are you ready to push?"

Cat nodded slowly, sniffling. "I guess I kinda have to be..."

"I know, honey," she whispered, patting Cat's leg. "Take a deep breath and push."

Cat took a breath and pushed, her fingers lacing with Robbie's. She pushed until she couldn't hold her breath anymore. "Ugh..."

"You're doing good, honey. Push again."

Cat pushed once again and whined as she let her breath out. "Ow, what is that?"

"That's the baby's head, it just popped through."

"The head?"

"Yeah, once you get the shoulders out you'll have a baby. You wanna meet your baby?"

"Yeah," she said with a nod.

"You can probably get the shoulders out with one good push. Can you do that for me?"

Cat whimpered. "I don't know..."

"You can do it, Catey," April said. "You can do it, just one more push. This is gonna be the easiest birth of your life, trust me."

"I'm not ready," she said with a sob.

"You have to be ready, the baby's already half way out of your vagina, you can't just suck it back up in there."

Cat let out a small laugh, along with a small nod. "Okay..."

"You ready?" Grace asked.

"Yeah."

"Push."

Cat took a large breath and pushed a little harder and a little longer until she felt all of the pressure leave and her breathing stayed heavy.

"It's a boy," Grace said.

"A boy..."

Grace nodded. "I'm just gonna get him cleaned up the best I can and then I'll hand him over, okay?"

"Okay..." she said before looking at Robbie. "It's a boy... we had a little boy," her voice cracked.

Robbie nodded. "We did. You did so good, I'm so proud of you," he whispered, kissing her lips.

"Braden Christopher."

"Hm?"

"His name. Please. Braden Christopher."

Robbie nodded. "Okay. Braden Christopher."

"Alright, Momma," Grace said, walking over to Cat with a small bundle in her arms. "Are you ready to hold him?"

Cat nodded. "Mhm..."

Grace laid the baby in her arms carefully. "You'll notice some changes in the next few hours. He looks really, really good right now, but his skin will get darker and bruising will happen. It'll happen quicker with him since he's so little, so anyone you want to meet him needs to do it within the next few hours so we can get him downstairs and looked at, alright?"

"Okay... um... are they gonna do an autopsy?"

"We don't have to if you don't want us to, but we'd like to perform one so we can see what went wrong."

Cat nodded. "I want one done. I wanna know what happened..." she said, sniffling as she looked at Braden. "He's so little..."

"He's so cute," April said, staring at him. "Seriously, I - I thought it would be like the ones you see on Google, yanno? But he's... he's like, perfect."

"I love you so much," Robbie said, kissing Cat's head.

Cat sniffled. "I love you too..."


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

 **A/N:** This chapter will have dirty talk in it towards the end and sexual content.

 **SSHAW101:** _Yes, April's been at boarding school, which I believe is mentioned in one of the earliest chapters, so she hasn't been present in the story. She'll always be a character in my stories, though. April will always be Cat's twin and Christopher will always be the brother's name (with or without the mental issues). And yes, she's very much a Jade-like version of Cat! Or a Cat-like version of Jade. Whichever seems to make more sense._

* * *

Cat stared at Braden as he laid in an infant sized casket, wearing nothing but a diaper, a blue beanie cap and a white onesie. She was supposed to be getting him dressed for his funeral. But, in her mind she wasn't even supposed to be here. She was supposed to be at home, still seven months pregnant, eating ice cream and complaining about him kicking her in the ribs. Not dressing him for his funeral.

After a few more seconds, she blinked and felt the hot tears roll down her cheeks as she sniffled and finally stood up from the rocking chair. She carefully picked her baby boy up from the disgustingly small eternity crib and kissed his cheek. As she breathed in his scent, she was displeased. Although they'd brushed baby powder over him and put baby lotion on him, she could still smell the small amount of formaldehyde from the embalming fluid. She couldn't be mad at the mortuary. They'd done the absolute best they could to give him that baby smell. And she appreciated that.

As she made her way over to the changing table, she stumbled a bit over the rug, but quickly caught her balance while she held Braden close to her body. "Sorry - sorry baby, it's okay," she said, kissing his head. "I didn't mean to scare you," she said as she carefully laid him down.

She had the choice to let everyone in the room with her while she dressed him, but she wanted that time alone with him. She didn't get that time at the hospital. Just two hours after she gave birth, he was taken to get the autopsy done. They were still waiting on official results.

While she carefully took off the white onesie, she stared at the Y-shaped incision on his tiny chest. Although they'd been extremely neat about the process, it still hurt her to know her baby boy had to be cut apart.

She sighed, running her thumb over his tiny hand. "I'm sorry they had to hurt you..." she said. "They wanna know what happened. Why you didn't get to stay in my tummy. If they can find out what happened, we can prevent this from happening to your brothers and sisters... They're gonna know what a good big brother you would have been, too. You're gonna be the best big brother, though. You'll watch over them from your little blue cloud. Probably laugh at them when they get in trouble," she said with a small smile.

After getting him dressed into another white onsie with a printed bow tie and buttons, a pair of black stretch pants, white socks, and black infant shoes that were definitely too big for him, she smiled and took the beanie cap off of his head before picking him up. "You're so handsome... You look like you're ready for a wedding," she said, sitting down in the rocking chair.

Letting out a small sigh, she rocked back and forth gently as if she were rocking Braden to sleep. "Everyone loves you, you know. Your Aunt Tori, and Uncle Andre and Aunt Trina and... And Uncle Beck and Aunt Jade... **especially** Uncle Beck and Aunt Jade," she whispered. "They lost a baby too. Last year. He was younger than you by about a month and a half. They just found out he was a boy when things went wrong," she said, carefully placing Braden against her chest, rubbing his back. "You're named after him. Aunt Jade doesn't know yet, but Uncle Beck said it was okay to name you Braden if you were a boy."

Cat yawned a little and continued rocking, rubbing his back. "Aunt Jade didn't wanna hold you at the hospital because she was too upset - but she's gonna be here in a few minutes to see you and hold you. She wants to now. Which is really, really good for her because other than your Aunt Tabby, she doesn't like to hold babies. But you're different. You're special. You're her godson. Other than Daddy and Auntie April, she loves you as much as I do."

After a few silent moments, there was a knock at the door. "Come in, Jade," she called out.

As she door opened, she stood up, swaying back and forth as if it would soothe Braden to keep him asleep. Once the door was closed, Jade sheepishly stepped closer to Cat, she brought Braden away from her chest so Jade could get a look at him. "This is your Aunt Jade. Aunt Jade, this is... this is Braden," she said quietly.

"Braden," Jade whispered, staring at him.

Cat nodded. "I hope you don't mind... Beck said it would be alright and I wanted to do it in his memory."

Tears had already filled Jade's eyes, but as she blinked they fell and she nodded, hugging Cat gently. "I love it," her voice cracked. "Thank you..."

"You don't care?"

"Not at all. He's perfect as a Braden... Can I hold him?"

Cat nodded and carefully handed Braden to Jade, watching her best friend's expression change from just plain sad to heartbroken and hurting, despite the small smile she was sporting.

"He's beautiful," Jade said. "I wish I took the time to really look at my Braden... All I remember was a dark red blob in the shape of a semi-formed baby."

"Babies are beautiful regardless," Cat said.

"Are you ready for today?"

Cat shook her head. "No... but, I want everything done and over with. I just wanna go home and sleep... at least if I'm sleeping, I don't have to face reality."

"What's so good about sleeping?"

"He's alive in my dreams."

* * *

Almost a month had passed since Braden's birth. The school had been lenient about her being on maternity leave and bereavement, but she got tired of sitting at home, so she'd gone back last week. Today was still just as hard as any other day, but there was supposed to be an assembly going on and no one would tell her what it was about - which was her first clue that it was about her.

"Why can't you just tell me!" Cat whined as she tore apart a quesadilla.

"Because I said no," Jade said. "Stop asking about it, you'll see what it's about when we get there. Why and how are you still eating?"

"I'm hungry. I still have those damn pregnancy cravings - I'm constantly hungry. This baby gut is never gonna go away."

"Is your stomach still soft?"

"Yeah, a little bit. I think most of it's fat, though, not necessarily just from having him. I'm gonna have to work it off, to be honest," Cat shrugged as she bit into a part of her quesadilla. "So, are we headed to the auditorium?"

"Yeah. So hurry up and choke that shit down."

"Don't be mean to me, I'm cranky and hungry," she said, tearing another part off and chewing on it.

"And horny."

Cat pointed with a nod. "And horny. Extremely horny. I can't wait until my six weeks are up, we're gonna fuck so hard I'll be sore for days."

"Do it enough and you get used to it."

"Just thinking about it makes me wet, dude."

"Kay, that's enough."

"I can't help it."

"You know you can still get off. You just can't have sex."

"What? That's an option?"

"Yeah man, just hump it out on him. Get both of you off."

"I know what I'm doing after school," Cat said as they pushed the auditorium doors open.

"What are you doing after school?" Tori asked as she caught up with them.

"Robbie."

"What? It's been like, three weeks."

"Four and a half."

"You can't have sex yet."

"Technically, she can have sex," Jade said. "But because she just had a baby, she's extremely fertile so it's not a good idea."

"That's why we're gonna get some rubbing action in, my pussy is -" Cat started.

"I don't need to know!" Tori said. "I don't need to know what's going on with your down there parts."

"What, are you too innocent to say it?"

"No, it's just a rude word."

"No it's not. It's a slang word."

"Say it."

"No."

"Pussy," Cat whispered as they sat down in the front row.

"That's foul."

"Your butt's foul."

"That's my thing," Trina said as she sat behind them.

"You don't own every phrase you say, Trina."

"I'm older, respect your elders."

"Act like my elder, then."

"I do."

Cat covered her ears quickly when she heard loud feedback from a microphone. "Jesus Christ on a stick, don't they know how to work that thing?"

"Attention," Helen said. "As you all know we're having an assembly, please quiet down."

"An assembly for what?" Cat whispered harshly.

"One of our students went through a heartbreaking loss a few weeks ago," Helen continued. "Would you mind coming up here please?"

Cat stayed quiet, looking down to her lap for a few seconds before slowly making her way onto the stage and standing next to Helen.

"As a mother myself, I can't imagine the pain you're going through, Miss Valentine," Helen said. "But my heart is with you and Mr. Shapiro during your time of need. William Edward Hickson once said 'if at first you don't succeed, try, try again'. And I do hope you try again. With a tragedy like this, you deserve happiness. You deserve to see the rainbow after the storm."

Cat sniffled and nodded as Helen hugged her. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Do you have anything you wanna say, baby?"

"Yeah, actually, um..." Helen handed her the microphone and she let out a small breath. "There are a ton of flowers and stuffed animals and baby toys on Braden's grave site," she said. "And I know most of those didn't come from my family - so thank you to everyone that's visited him so far. I uh... I visit a couple times a week when I miss him. I mean, I miss him every second, but when it gets really bad, I go to the cemetery and I just sit with him and talk and tell him how things are going and what everyone's doing. Sometimes I swear I can hear him giggle," her voice cracked. "Um... I know there are probably other girls - and boys here that have lost their babies. And I'm not here to judge you for that. If any of you need to talk to just get something off your chest, or you wanna talk about your baby to someone that will listen, I have no problem being that person. I know how important it is talk. It gets lonely when you can't talk. So please, please come to me, I really won't mind it. Don't let it sit inside of you until you explode. And thank you guys, again, for visiting Braden. It comforts me knowing that people care. Thank you," she said as she handed the microphone back to Helen.

* * *

"Don't tickle me!" Cat said, smacking Robbie's hand as they walked into his house.

"I wasn't gonna tickle you," Robbie said with a laugh.

"Well it felt like it."

"Well I wasn't gonna."

"Are your parents here?"

"No."

"Hayden?"

"She's at Erin's."

"And there's no one coming home anytime soon?"

"Not until later tonight."

"Good," Cat said, pulling him into the living room and pushing him into a recliner.

"What's going on?" Robbie asked.

Cat took his backpack and threw both of them onto the couch as she straddled him, kissing his neck. "I need you in the worst way possible."

"We can't have sex yet, you haven't gone back to the doctor."

"We're not having sex. We're gonna hump it out. I need some sort of release, and I'm sure you feel the same way," she said, lightly grazing her teeth over his shoulder.

"I might."

"Do you miss me?"

"I do."

"Do you miss seeing me naked?" she asked, pressing her hips into his.

"Yeah."

"Do you miss my tongue..." she whispered, letting her tongue just barely graze the nape of his neck, "...sliding around your cock?"

Robbie bit his lip, feeling himself instantly harden at her words. "Yeah..."

"Do you miss my pussy riding your tongue?" she asked, slowly unbuttoning and unzipping her shorts.

"Yeah..."

"Do you miss my clit throbbing against your dick?" she asked, sliding her hand down her shorts and into her panties.

Robbie watched her hand, nodding as his member stiffen. "Yeah I do."

"You miss burying your cock in this pussy?"

"Fuck yes."

Cat grinned, letting her finger slide over her clit slowly. "Mm..." she moaned quietly.

"You're gonna drive me crazy," Robbie said, pressing his hips up to rock his cock against her.

"Oh yeah?" she asked, unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans with her free hand, pulling his cock out of his boxers and rubbing her thumb slowly over the head. "How bout now?"

"Baby..."

"Fuck," she whispered.

She stopped momentarily to pull her shorts off before she reclined the chair and pulled her panties to the side, sliding her clit against the head of his cock. "Mm, baby..."

"Fuck that feels good," Robbie whispered.

"God, I can't wait to fuck you," she said, sucking at his neck as her hips rolled.

"Me either. I'll take control and make you feel **real** good," he said, grabbing her hips and pulling her closer.

"You gonna show my pussy who's boss?" she asked, moving quicker.

"Yeah I am."

"Mm... Fuck, I'm so close baby," she moaned as she moved a little rougher.

"Come on baby, cum for me," Robbie said, moving his own hips to help.

Cat's breath intensified and she finally let out a loud moan, her clit throbbing against his cock as he came. Her breath hitched in her throat and she let out a guttural moan, squirting as she came herself.

Once she calmed down, she breathed heavily, looking at him for a few seconds. "We need to do this more often."


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

 **A/N:** This chapter contains attempted suicide. Please read with caution.

* * *

Cat should have been at school. But, it was lunch time. She just left campus to sit at the cemetery for a little bit. She'd rather be spending time with her baby, anyways. Robbie had insisted on coming with her, and while he had as much right to visit their son as she did, she really just wanted that time alone because she needed to think.

"I'm gonna hold you again someday, little man," she said softly. "Really, really soon. I promise."

It was part of her plan. She let everyone think she was alright. But she was dying on the inside. It killed her knowing that her baby boy was buried while she was still on Earth, able to live out the rest of her life. He didn't even get the chance to live, but she'd been on this planet for seventeen years and that was good enough for her. She didn't need to be here anymore. Nobody needed her anymore. But her? She needed her baby.

She sniffled, opening a pill bottle and a bottle of water. She put the last ten or so pills in her mouth and took a drink to swallow them down with. That was just the first bottle she finished. She had five more just in case a few didn't work. She was starting to get that dizzy feeling. Everything was cloudy and not clear. But she still knew what was going on around her, and although she was extremely tired by this point, she dug into her backpack and took out another bottle, pouring a third of it in her mouth and drinking, and repeating the process until there was just two pill bottles left. And the only reason she didn't take those ones was because she passed out before she could grab them.

* * *

"Hey, uh..." Robbie said, walking up to Jade and Beck as they stood outside Jade's locker. "Have you seen Cat?"

"No," Jade said. "I figured she went home or something."

"I haven't seen her. I thought the same thing," Beck said.

"She went to Braden's grave at lunch, but she should have been back by now."

"School's out in forty-five minutes and you're just now realizing she's not back yet?" Jade asked. "Jesus Christ Robbie, have you called her?"

"Yeah, it just keeps ringing and going to voicemail."

Jade took her phone out of her pocket, dialing Cat's number. After about seven rings, she rolled her eyes when she heard that annoying, obnoxious voicemail notice.

 _"Heyyy!"_ Cat's voice said. _"I'm probably busy right now... or like, asleep. Or I can't find my phone, cause that happens a lot. So uh... just leave me a message and I'll call you back once I find it. Or tell me a poem. Or sing me a song, that would make me happy! Byyye!"_

"Answer your fucking phone," Jade said harshly before hanging up and dialing another number.

"She's not gonna answer if she didn't the first time," Beck said.

"I'm calling April."

 _"Yellow?"_ April asked.

"Hey, is Cat at home?"

 _"No, school's not out yet. Why?"_

"She never came back after lunch."

 _"Oh... Check the bathroom. Maybe she's been crying."_

"I called her, Robbie called her, we just keep getting voicemail. Try her a few times and let me know if you get to her. We're gonna look around campus for a little bit."

 _"Okay. Let me know if you find her. I'll let Mom and Adam know."_

Jade hung up and sighed. "She's not at home."

"What do we do?" Robbie asked.

"You go to the office and ask about her. The cemetery's just down the street so I'll go check there, Beck can check the bathrooms and everywhere else."

"What if we can't find her?"

"Then we let Tara and Sikowitz decide what to do. Someone let Sikowitz know. Actually, Beck can go check there first while I go check the cemetery. Split up."

* * *

Jade sighed, walking down the street. Although she knew it was important to find Cat, she just didn't wanna walk onto that cemetery's property. Not only did her godson reside there, but so did her own son - her own Braden. Now both of her Bradens. The baby boys actually only had a plot between the two of them - but the one that separated them was empty, thank god. It was a coincidence that they were buried so close together, but she and Cat had both discussed that Braden and Braden probably had fun together being neighbors.

Once she got to the cemetery, she went straight to the infant section - and there she was. Cat. Laid on the ground, resting upon Braden and Braden's grave sites. She must have fallen asleep.

Jade made her way over to the redhead and crouched, shaking Cat a little. "Cat, wake up. School's almost out and we've been worried sick abo - oh my god," she said, finally noticing all of the empty pill bottles around her. She picked one up and tears filled her eyes.

 **Nembutal**.

How the fuck did she even get those? They were deadly as fuck. Clearly, Cat had done her research.

Jade's phone was out of her pocket and 9-1-1 was dialed before she even had time to process what to say.

 _"9-1-1, what's the location of your emergency?"_ The dispatcher asked.

"The Hillside cemetery in the baby section," Jade said quickly.

 _"What's your emergency, ma'am?"_

"My best friend swallowed four bottles of Nembutal pills and she's passed out, I can't wake her up for anything."

 _"Alright ma'am, I'm dispatching an ambulance your way right now, please stay with her until the ambulance gets there and make sure she's on her side so in case of vomiting it doesn't clog her throat."_

Jade let out a small sob, shifting Cat onto her side. The fear running through her body was very present. What if it was too late to save her?

* * *

While Tara, Adam and Sikowitz were speaking to the doctor outside, April, Jade and Robbie had decided to stay in Cat's room with her. Although they knew it would probably take hours for her to be able to wake up due to the effect of the strong, tedious sleeping pills she'd taken, they still wanted to be with her in case she woke up so she wasn't alone.

"I don't understand," Robbie said quietly, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived. "Why would she do something like this?"

"She's depressed," Jade said.

"That's no reason to try to kill herself."

"Depression does that to you, Robbie," April said. "It eats at you and makes you feel worthless and puts all these thoughts into your head... It's a horrible feeling."

"How do you know all that?"

"I've been there. Depression is a disease. It makes you do and say terrible things."

"And right now, Cat just wants her baby," Jade said.

"He was my baby too and I'm sad, but I'm not trying to kill myself," Robbie said.

"It's different when you're a mother."

Robbie knew he couldn't argue with that. He knew Cat had been taking it harder than he had been. But he didn't know how depressed she was. Or that she was depressed at all. There had been nights where she'd just cry and cry unless she fell asleep, but he had no idea that her head was in such a dark place. And he felt terrible for not noticing.

After a few moments of silence, April let out a small breath, running her thumb over the back of Cat's hand. "I'm here, Catey," she said quietly. "So are Jade and Robbie. Mom, Dad and Adam are talking to a doctor right now... You're gonna be okay. I promise."

The door opened and the teenagers looked up to see Sikowitz entering and closing the door. "What did the doctor say?" April asked.

"He said she's gonna be fine. She has to stay here for observation for a while," he said. "Tara contacted Cat's therapist and she said she needed to start going back every week instead of just monthly."

"She hasn't even been going to therapy," Jade said.

"She still needs to go. The doctor is prescribing it."

"Therapy can be prescribed?" Robbie asked.

"Not technically," Jade said. "But it's gonna help her. It's more of an order."

"She's not gonna go if she doesn't want to."

"She needs to, though," April said. "I can get her there. She'll go for me."

"Are you sure?"

"Are we identical?"

"Well, yeah. Except for the hair. And your eyebrows are better. And you don't have that scar -"

"Are we twins?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then. I'm sure."

* * *

Cat didn't want to be awake. She'd woken up about an hour ago and had the worst headache in the world, but now it was just a dull throbbing sensation. Her eyes were still blurry - but she suspected it was mostly because she didn't have her contacts in. She didn't know who took them out or why, but she could tell they were no longer in her eyeballs.

She looked up when the door opened and she squinted to see who it was, but to no avail, couldn't see shit. "Who's that? I can't see."

"It's Mom," Tara said. "You want your glasses?"

Cat nodded and soon felt something being put on her face - and then everything was clear. "Thanks..."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I puked a bunch," Cat said. "My stomach is completely empty. They're not gonna pump it anymore are they?"

"No."

"Can I eat soon?"

"I'll ask. I'll have Adam pick you something up from McDonald's in a little bit and we can heat it up later if the doctor says you can't have anything yet."

"I like McDonald's burgers cold. They taste better that way."

"You're a nut."

"Can I have a nut?"

"If you can't have McDonald's, you really think they're gonna let you have a nut?"

"Nuts are healthy."

"I'm surprised you're hungry with all those pills and water you downed."

"It was Vodka."

"Caterina."

"What? I wanted the good shit, yanno? Party hardy, woo," she said, weakly pumping her fist with a 'rock on' sign.

Tara laughed a little and stayed silent for a few moments. "You really scared us, Cat..."

"I'm sorry..."

"Honey, if things were this bad for you, why didn't you come talk to me? I would have listened, I would have helped..."

Cat shook her head. "There's nothing anybody can do to help... I did it because I wanted to be with my baby," her voice cracked.

"Do you know how much everybody would have suffered had we not been able to save you?"

"Why is it about everybody else? This was about me. Making me happy."

"Would it have made you happy to know that everyone else was suffering because you ended your life?"

"Stop!" Cat snapped. "Stop making this about all of you! You know what my therapist told me when I started going to her? To do what going to make me happy! Because before I can make anyone else truly happy, I needed to be at my happiest! And being here, without my baby, that's not making me happy! I'm fucking depressed! I'm heartbroken! I'm shattered!"

Tara sniffled, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry that I don't see it your way, sweetheart... But I'm speaking as a mother. You're a mother. You lost your baby. The way you feel right now about Braden is exactly how your father and I would feel if we lost you."

"You have Christopher and April, you don't need me."

"Our family wouldn't be complete without you, Caterina."

"My family isn't complete without my son. My heart... my heart is not complete without him," she said.

Tara didn't know what to say to that. She'd never lost a baby. She didn't know how Cat felt. So, she couldn't sympathize with her.

After a few moments of silence, Cat sniffled. "Will you get Robbie please?" she whispered.

"Sure, honey..." Tara stood up and kissed Cat's head. "I love you. More than life."

"I love you too..."

A few minutes had passed when Robbie walked in and closed the door. As he walked to her bed, he gave her a small smile.

"You look cute in your glasses," he said. "You should wear them more often."

"I hate my glasses."

"They look nice."

"They're ridiculous."

Robbie laughed a little and kissed her lips lightly. "I love you... you know that, don't you?"

"I know. I love you, too."

"...Do I not show it enough? Is... is that why you felt... the way you did?"

Cat looked at Robbie for a few seconds. "Robbie, I didn't do this because I felt unloved... I know you guys love me. You show it every day. I did it because... I miss Braden," her voice cracked.

"I miss him too Cat, but... I didn't try to kill myself."

"You don't get it. And you never will. And that's okay - I don't expect you to get it. You - you don't know how my brain works with stuff like this. I wish you did, but at the same time I'm so, so glad that you don't because I don't ever want you to feel or know the feeling I have."

"But I want to understand."

"No. You don't. It is fucking hell inside my head, I wouldn't wish this on anybody. And - and I don't know how Jade dealt with this, but I can't... I can't deal with it, Robbie, it hurts too much to be inside my own head."

"I want to help you, Cat..."

"You do. You help me in ways you don't even realize."

"How?"

"You tell it like it is. Whether it's mean or not, it's always the truth. And I need that. I need the truth. Everyone else just sugar coats shit. And that's what hurts me in the long run. I need the cold, hard truth, no matter how bad it feels to say. And yeah, I might think you're a dick because of it, but I know that it's the truth and that's what I need."

"I'm mean to you?"

"Absolutely. But I love you for it..." she said, resting her hand on his cheek. "I know you don't wanna be mean. And you don't try to be, it just comes out that way. And I get mad about it at first, but... it's what I need in the long run, and it's times like this right here that I appreciate the rawness and the bitterness..."

"I just... don't wanna lose you, Cat... I lost my son, I can't handle losing you, too," his voice cracked.

"Baby..." she whispered.

"You are the most important person in my life. If I lost you, I don't know what I would do..."

"You would finish school. And go to college. And become an amazing, successful man. And you would make sure that everyone knew your heart belonged to me and Braden... but you would eventually, finally, move on and meet some amazing girl and fall in love and get married and have beautiful, beautiful babies and grow old together... because you would do what I would have wanted you to do, and I would have wanted you to find happiness and not focus on me anymore."

"That's not going to happen with anybody but with you, because you aren't going anywhere, Cat. If you were going to, you wouldn't be here right now. You'd be in a morgue."

"The morgue is exactly where I should be right now."

"But it's not. You're here. And I'm so happy you are because life without you would be hell."

"It would at first, but you would be okay in the end. I'm right here, right now."

"And you always will be. Right? Promise me you'll always be here."

"I can promise you a lot. I can promise you that I'll always love you. That I'll always want what's best for you. That I'll always want you to be happy. But I can't promise that."

"You have to," Robbie's voice cracked. "Please, please promise me that you'll always be here with me."

"That's a promise I can't make, baby..."

Robbie let out a small sob, resting his forehead against their interlocked hands. "Please don't leave me..."

Cat couldn't even say anything else. She just sat there, listening to him beg her over and over again as tears slid down her cheeks.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

* * *

Cat laughed as Robbie spun her around the living room, stumbling before she grabbed at him to keep her balance. "Holy shit, are you trying to crack my face open? I have to stay pretty for this thing," she said.

"You're clumsy, you're the one that almost fell," Robbie said.

"You made me dizzy."

"You're just a klutz."

"Maybe so, but you spun me in a circle and made me dizzy, so I'm blaming you for it."

"Fine, then I'm blaming you for that 'D' in trig last week."

"What? That's not fair."

"You kept distracting me and I didn't get to study."

"I never pulled your book away from you, you could have studied."

"You kept giving me blow jobs."

"Hey!" Adam said, covering his ears. "I don't wanna know about that."

Cat laughed and kissing Robbie's lips. "You're gonna get me grounded, fucker," she muttered.

"Stop giving me blow jobs and I won't get 'D's," Robbie said.

"I'll stop giving you blow jobs, I can hold out."

"No you can't, you're always horny."

"Yeah but blow jobs don't get me off."

"Enough," Adam said with an annoyed tone.

"What are you two doing to him?" Tara asked as she walked into the living room.

"They're talking about... bad things they shouldn't be doing."

"What?"

"We're talking about how Robbie got a 'D' in trig because he couldn't study because I kept giving him blow jobs," Cat said with a grin.

"I'm done," Adam said as he left the room.

Cat giggled. "He's such a baby, he acts like he doesn't get blow jobs."

"Enough," Tara said, rolling her eyes. "When are you guys leaving?"

"In about ten minutes," Robbie said.

"You trying to get rid of us?" Cat asked. "What do you have planned? You gonna bang tonight?"

"That's none of your business. Are you gonna bang tonight?" Tara mocked.

"Probably."

"She's kidding," Robbie said.

"No I'm not, it's gonna happen and it's gonna happen tonight, it's been almost three months, we're fucking."

"Caterina, that choice of words could have been better thought through," Tara said.

"But they weren't. We gotta go if you wanna get there at a decent time."

"We should have already been there, but no. Someone wanted to curl their hair," Robbie said.

"Talkin' about me, punk?" she asked, playfully jabbing him in the ribs.

"Yeah, brat, I am," he said, ruffling her bangs.

"Walk and talk, walk and talk," she said, grabbing his hand and starting towards the front door.

"Have fun," Tara said. "But, not too much!"

* * *

"This is spiked," Cat said, taking a long sip of her drink.

"No it's not," Tori said.

"It is."

"How do you know?"

"Because we smell like the aftermath of a frat party."

"If it's spiked why are you still drinking it?"

"Because I'm not afraid to get a little drunk," she said, downing the rest of her cup.

"What's so great about getting drunk?"

"Get a little drunk, get a little laid."

"Sex. Of course."

"I'm in need of the deed, Tori. It's been three months."

"What's been three months?" Jade asked as she walked up.

"Since I've had sex."

"Damn. The longest I've ever gone is two weeks."

"I need it. This pussy has been deprived for far too long."

"That crude mouth," Tori said. "How does Robbie stand that?"

"He likes dirty talk."

"That's weird."

"Not really."

"Coming from you it is."

"It's really not," Jade said. "You should have heard that pretty mouth in middle school. It was worse."

"That pretty mouth is dirty."

"Robbie likes this pretty mouth wrapped around his dick at high speed," Cat said.

"Jesus Christ."

"Watcha girls talking about?" Beck asked as he walked up to the girls.

"How Robbie likes his blow jobs wet and sloppy," Jade said.

"Whoa, okay. Too much."

"See? I'm not the only one that thinks it's gross," Tori said.

"I don't think it's gross, I just don't wanna hear about my little sister going down on one of my best friends. It's weird."

"You two assholes fucked when I spent the night at your RV last year," Cat said. "Loudly."

"Eh," Beck shrugged.

"If you knew they were having sex why didn't you just leave?" Tori asked.

"Because I didn't feel good and I didn't feel like puking on my way home," Cat said.

"Instead, she puked all over my carpet," Beck said.

"I asked you for a trash can."

"As many dirty things that come from your lips, that pretty mouth of yours is a trash can," Jade said.

Cat rolled her eyes and pulled her phone out of her bra, texting Robbie.

 _Where'd you disappear to babe?_

 **\- Cat**

 _Had to run to the car. I forgot your corsage. I'm coming back in right now._

 **\- Robbie**

Cat looked up as the doors opened and she put her phone back in her bra as Robbie walked over to her. "I didn't know you got me a corsage," she said.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Robbie said. "Close your eyes. Gimme your wrist."

"Why do I have to close my eyes?"

"Because you'll cry if you don't."

"I don't wanna cry."

"Close your eyes."

Cat closed her eyes. As she heard a plastic crinkly container being opened, she heard Tori gasp lightly.

"Oh my gosh, Robbie," Tori said. "That's beautiful..."

Cat felt something slide on her wrist. "Can I open my eyes now?"

"Go ahead," Robbie said.

She opened them and looked at her wrist. Tears filled her eyes. The flowers were gorgeous. But what got to her was the picture of Braden pinned to the flowers. Her hand covered her mouth as she let out a sob, leaning into Robbie and burying her face into his chest.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it," her voice cracked.

"I figured since he couldn't physically be here with us like he was going to be, then he could at least kind of be here," Robbie said as he kissed her head. "I love you."

"I love you too... thank you so much, baby..."

"What do you say we get this party started?" Beck asked. "It's the last school event we get before graduation."

"Someone keep Cat away from the punch," Tori said.

"You want her to die of thirst?"

"I don't want her to die of liver failure."

* * *

Cat giggled as Robbie led her into the Valentine house, closing and locking the door behind him.

"Shh," Robbie whispered. "Your parents are probably asleep."

"Nooo, my parents are divorced. Dad doesn't live here," Cat said.

"I meant your mom and Adam."

"Adam's not my parent... he's... he's... uh, the baby. He's the baby's dad, what's the baby's name?"

"Tabby?"

"Tabby! That's right, Tabby. Adam is Tabby's dad," she said. She paused shortly before giggling. "Tabby. That's a funny word. Tabby, Tabby, Tabby."

"Shhh," Robbie shushed as he helped her upstairs to her room. "You have to be quiet."

"Okay," Cat whispered loudly.

Robbie closed her bedroom door and helped her to the bed, making her sit down before he took her high heels off and placed them neatly by her nightstand.

"Are you trying to serenade me?" Cat asked.

"No."

"You're undressing me."

"I'm getting you into your pajamas," he said with a small laugh as he unzipped the back of her dress before pulling the front down and off of her arms.

"I don't wanna wear pajamas."

"That's fine, but you still don't wanna sleep in this dress. Lift your butt up."

The split second that Cat could get her butt off the bed, Robbie managed to slide the dress down her legs and he tossed it over the back of her desk chair before taking her phone out of her bra and hooking it to the charger before placing it on the nightstand.

"Will you stay with me, Robbie?" Cat asked.

"I will if you want me to."

"I do. Please?"

Robbie nodded. He looked at her for a few seconds and she stared into his eyes, wrapping her arms around his neck, breathing lightly into his face.

Although her breath smelled of punch and liquor, it was almost intoxicating. It wasn't a bad smell. It was a nice smell, as weird as that sounded.

"Fuck me," she whispered, kissing his neck.

"What? No."

"Why not?"

"You're drunk."

"I'm not."

"You are."

"Please, Robbie..."

"No. That's rape."

"No it's not, Robbie - please... make love to me..." she whispered, letting her hand slide to his pants. "I need you..."

Robbie did his best to not get turned on. Unfortunately, he still popped a boner and couldn't just tell her that he wasn't in the mood. Instead, he bit his lip and kissed her. "Fine. But you're doing all the work," he said, opening her nightstand and digging through it, only to have Cat pull his hand out.

"We don't need a condom," Cat said.

"Are you insane?"

"We don't need it."

"What if you get pregnant?"

"I won't. I'll take the morning after pill or something. Please..."

Robbie sighed and closed the drawer. "Fine. You're still doing all the work."


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

* * *

"How do I look?" Cat asked as she turned to Tori, smoothing out her dress.

"Fantastic," Tori said. "You had a baby. I don't get it. Most people that have kids keep the weight. You? You lost that in the snap of a finger."

"Nah, it took a good couple months... God, it's been four months... Where did the time go?"

"It went to good memories."

"And some bad."

"But mostly good," Tori said, pulling Cat into a hug. "I know you've been through a lot these last few months. But I am so, so proud of you."

"I tried to take the easy way out..."

"And it scared the hell out of all of us. But, you're okay now... at least, you're alive. You know we love you. I don't know what we'd do without you. I'm so glad Jade found you in time..."

Cat sniffled and pulled away from Tori, leaning against the bathroom counter. "Sometimes I wish she hadn't. But... I guess I'm glad, too. I mean, this is one of the most important days of my life. Graduation is... something that I've looked forward to for years."

"It's a good thing she found you, then."

"Yeah, I guess so..."

"I know you miss him."

Cat nodded, wiping tears from her eyes. "I do... I miss him so much... He'd be about a month old by now..."

"I know... and he would have been so proud to watch his mommy walk across that stage."

"I would have been a really good mom, Tori..." she whispered.

"I know. You would have been the best mom. The absolute best mom."

"Hey," Jade said as she popped her head in the door. "Ceremony's starting. Let's go, Valedictorian, hurry it up."

"I'm coming," Cat said, grabbing zipping her gown and fixing her sash as she walked out of the bathroom.

As the three girls made their way down the hall, Cat started laughing.

"What?" Jade asked.

"I just think it's a little funny. See, it would have been much more fitting for Tori to have been the valedictorian. Get it? Cause, valedic **tori** an."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

"She's right though, it would have been fitting," Tori said.

"All graduates please report to the lobby," the intercom said.

The girls started running down the hall and eventually got to the lobby, Cat immediately finding Robbie and wrapping her arms around him.

"We're big kids now, Daddy," she said.

"We are, Mommy," Robbie said kissing her lips. "He's watching."

"I know. I already had that conversation with Tori. Don't make me cry."

"I'm not gonna make you cry. I love you."

"I love you, too."

It took about two hours to get through all of the students names, but everyone had finally graduated. There was just one more speech to be made and it was Cat's. She was more nervous than she'd ever been before, but she was ready to get this day done and over with.

"Before we end this ceremony, there's a student here who had gone above and beyond. She's gone through tragedies and she's gone through Hell and back, but she's here today and she's the top student of this year's graduating class. Please meet your valedictorian, Caterina Valentine," Helen said.

Cat let out a small breath as the auditorium filled with applause, walking up onto the stage and standing at the podium. "Hi. I'm Cat," she started. "Um... So, like Helen said, I've been through a lot this year. I was sexually assaulted. My brother got sent to prison. I was tormented by an ex boyfriend. I was hospitalized. I got pregnant. I... I lost my baby. I tried to commit suicide not even two months ago. And... and here I am. On this stage, honored as valedictorian. At the time of my attempt, I wasn't thinking about today. I was thinking about my son. About how much I wanted to still be pregnant with him, instead of visiting him at a cemetery. I thought about the nephew I lost. I thought about how much happier I would be if I could just... be with my son. And I still want to be with him. More than anything, I want to be able to hold my little boy and rock him to sleep and sing to him and just... be his mother. And I can't do that. All this time, Braden has been the only thing on my mind. At least, I thought so - because even though I've missed countless days of school and there's no way I should even be up here right now. I shouldn't be graduating, let alone being valedictorian. But, I guess what I didn't realize was that even though I was obsessing over my son and just wishing more than ever that he was with me, I was apparently doing something. I was doing what I needed to do. I still lived life, I still did everything I needed to do to make sure this day would come. I didn't realize it, but now looking back, I remember stressing out over finals. I remember crying myself to sleep because I forgot what a divergent series was. I worked my ass off for today. And I know all of you did too. I remember most of you. I remember most of you being really mean to me when we were younger. I remember some of you backing me up. I remember my best friends in the entire world jumping on one kid because he pulled my ponytail in second grade. My friends literally just jumped on him and started yelling and screaming at him for hurting me. And even though I remember the mean things most of you said about me... and the things some of you did to me that tore me apart on the inside... what I remember most and what I'd like to thank you all for, is being there for me when I was lost. The day we had the assembly after I lost Braden, I saw most of you crying. The boys too. And you wouldn't have cried if you didn't truly care. So, thank you. Thank you for being there for me. Thank you for visiting my baby. I still see a lot of stuff at his grave when I go visit. I don't know who it is, but thank you so much for taking time out of your day to visit Braden. That means the absolute world to me. That the people I was scared of and the people that used to hurt me, came together to be there for me. And I guess most of it is because we're older and you all grew up. But it still showed me that even though people can be mean and do mean things, doesn't mean they're bad people. Good people do bad things. You're all good people. Really, really good people. And trust me, Braden enjoys the company too. I can't thank you all enough for being by my side. These last few months have made me realize that even through the rough shit, I'm really proud of all of us. I'm not the only one who's struggled. I didn't have it any worse than any of you did. I know we've all been through bad shit. I know some of you are in foster homes. Statistics say that foster home kids don't usually graduate. I can't tell you how proud I am of you for being here today. I can't express enough how proud I am of all of us, for overcoming all of our own obstacles and trials and tribulations. This morning, I woke up... happy. I woke up, I kissed the picture of Braden and told him Mommy and Daddy are graduating today, and I had a smile on my face. A genuinely happy smile. That hasn't happened since I gave birth. I can't say that tomorrow will be the same as today. But I can tell you that I think I've overcome the most difficult part, and that was accepting that even though things haven't gone my way lately, doesn't mean I'm completely incapable of making things work. I could have lost literally everything the day I lost my son. I could have lost my boyfriend. My friends. My family. But I didn't. I don't cry as much as I used to. I used to cry every time I saw Braden's picture. Now I smile. I don't cry much anymore when I go talk to him. I still cry, but not as much. And that's good enough for me. I'm sorry this speech came out sounding like it's all about me, myself and I - it's really not. It's about all of us. All of us have overcome so much in these last eighteen years we've been on this earth. All of us have done so much and sacrificed so much to be here today. We're all still here and we're all still alive. And those of us that we lost, this is their day too. This is the day they would have graduated with us. This is the day that we all take one step to the rest of our lives. The second we turn these tassels and walk out of this building, we're starting our new lives. And I couldn't think of a better graduating class to do that with than this graduating class. Congratulations to all of you. We did it," she said with a smile before stepping away from the podium and making her way back to her seat.

The auditorium clapped for a few moments before Helen took over again. "I'd like you all to move your tassels from the right to the left."

After the students moved their tassels, Helen spoke again. "Congratulations, Hollywood Arts. You're officially graduates."

The auditorium erupted in cheer, most students throwing their hats in the air.

Cat laughed and wrapped her arms around Robbie, kissing his lips as she placed her hand on her hat to keep it from falling. "I love you so much, baby..." she whispered.

"I love you more."

"My place? Celebration?"

"Absolutely."

* * *

"Good morning, Cat," Dr. Turner said as Cat sat in a chair.

"Hi," she said.

"How are you?"

"Okay. I graduated yesterday."

"Congratulations. I bet you're glad to be out of school."

Cat nodded. "For sure. I love that school to death, but it'll be nice to not have to worry about convergent and divergent series."

"I'll bet. How've you been doing?"

"Good, I guess. Not as sad lately."

"That's good. Are you still getting suicidal thoughts?"

"Not really," Cat shrugged. "I mean, they're thoughts about suicide, but not like 'oh my god, I need to die'. Not like it was the day I tried."

"What's it like, then?"

"It's more just thinking about what it would be like. Like, obviously I'd be dead, but... I wonder if I'd be with Braden or if I'd just be a lowly, depressed angel. If I even go to Heaven. I could go to Hell. And like, how bad would Hell be if that's where I ended up? And... and, do all angels really get their own cloud? And if I saw Braden, would I recognize him? Would he still be a baby? Would be be more like, a little kid? Would he be able to talk to me? Just, stuff like that. Nothing bad."

"That's good. Those are all very good questions, I'm sure we've all thought them at some point."

"I miss him. A lot. But, I don't cry as much anymore. I smile when I see his picture now. Most of the time, anyways. Sometimes it still gets me. It just depends on my mood and if I took my meds at the right time. If I take them too late, I feel like shit the entire day and just lay in bed and cry, but if I take them earlier then I'm pretty good."

"Did you take them today?"

"Yep. Right when I woke up. And then I forgot to eat, so when I threw up, the pill came back up and I had to take another one and then eat. I forget I'm not supposed to take them on an empty stomach."

"It'll take some getting used to. I'm glad you're taking your pills, though. You seem a lot happier in general. Do you feel happier?"

"Yeah," Cat nodded. "I do. I don't know what it is. I think maybe just finally accepting that Braden really is gone helped. And I know my pills are helping. But I dunno, I think maybe I'm just... growing up. Learning how to not dwell on the things that can't be changed, and stuff like that."

"Have you talked to your brother lately?"

"Yeah, we write every few weeks. He can only write when he's lucid. When he's messed up, he can't do anything. So I know he's at least having better days."

"That's good. How are things with you and your stepfather?"

Cat shrugged with a sigh. "I dunno. I don't spend much time with him. Never have. This last year has been the worst. He just keeps throwing it in my face that he raised me so he's my dad, because my dad didn't raise me... but it's his fault my dad wasn't able to be around when I was growing up. Adam doesn't like my dad. So he'd make everything hell for him so he wouldn't come around. But I turn eighteen at the end of the month, so there's nothing he can do about it, and I plan on moving in with my dad until my boyfriend and I can get our own place. I'm working on finding a job. I mean, I found one, I just have to pass a background check, so I won't be mooching off my dad, I'll be able to help him with rent and housing necessities and stuff like that once I get hired."

"It sounds like you're doing really good, Cat. I like to hear that. If you keep progressing the way you are, you won't even need to come to therapy anymore."

"Thank god," she said. "I mean, not in a bad way, not that I don't like you, I just - I wanna be in a place where therapy isn't a suggestion anymore."

"I understand. I want that for you, too. I want that for all of my patients," Dr. Turner said as she looked at her watch. "You have about an hour before our session is up. There's not a lot that I need to follow up with you on, so you're free to do whatever you want to do."

"Can I just sleep? I'm in desperate need of a nap, I was up late with Robbie last night and I was just too riled up to even think about sleeping. I need a nap."

Dr. Turner laughed a little. "You can absolutely take a nap, I'll wake you when our time is up."

"I'm gonna take a nap."


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

 **A/N:** There's only one more chapter after this and I'm a little sad, but also really proud of myself for actually finishing this story. I'm thinking my next story will be the sequel to my last, but it probably won't have a plan, I think I'm just going to go with the flow on it. Thank you so much to those of you that have been keeping up with this!

* * *

"Oh, Jesus!" Cat said as she tripped, grabbing Robbie's arm.

"Why are you such a klutz?" Jade asked.

"I don't know, I have inner ear issues."

"Yeah, sure."

"What are we gonna do first?" Tori asked. "Are we playing, are we eating, are we walking around?"

"I say we eat and walk around and then play, I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry."

"I know. I've gained five pounds since graduation."

"It's been a month, you've gained five pounds in a month?"

"Yeah, I've been eating. A lot."

"Why?"

"Because she's a fat ass," Jade said, smacking Cat's backside. "Look, it jiggles."

"Robbie likes it when it jiggles," Cat said.

"Don't tell them that," Robbie said.

"I don't need to know that he's into jiggly butts," Andre said.

Cat giggled and hopped up and down a few times. "I want a dole whip!" she said. "Please, please, please, let's go get dole whips, pleeease?"

"If we get dole whips will you shut the fuck up?" Jade asked.

"She will not," Beck said. "And you know that."

"If she's stuffing her face she can't talk."

"Yes I can," Cat said.

"But you're not going to because if you do, it'll be Olivia and Monica all over again."

Cat placed her hands on her cheeks. "I'm still sore from that."

"Don't hit her," Tori said.

"I feel that's what Olivia would do," Jade said.

"Well, we don't need a bruised up Cat, she'll just complain the entire time."

"She's gonna complain the entire time anyways."

"So, dole whips?" Cat asked.

* * *

"Poor Cat," Tori said as the redhead vomited into a trash can.

"It's her own fault," Jade said. "She's the one that ate all that crap and decided rides would be a good idea."

"It reminded me of the scene from The Sand Lot."

Jade cringed. "That's disgusting."

"How you feeling?" Robbie asked as Cat sat on a bench with her head in her hands.

"Ask me again in ten years," Cat said.

"We'll sit here until you feel better."

"I don't want everyone else to have to wait for my stomach to settle."

"Good, cause I'm not waiting," Jade said as she walked off.

"Babe, c'mon," Beck said as he went after her.

Tori sat next to Cat. "Maybe you should wait a while before riding anything else. And next time we eat, you either don't eat as much, or you wait a good thirty minutes."

"I'm hungry," Cat said.

Tori laughed. "I imagine you are, you just puked everything you put into your body."

"Can we have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe?"

"That would be fun. I'm in if everyone else is in."

"I'll do whatever you want," Robbie said.

"I'll go. I haven't been there before," Andre said. "We just gotta get Beck and Jade on board."

"You guys go find them?" Cat asked. "I'm gonna call my dad, I forgot to let him know we made it. And my mom."

"Sure. C'mon, Rob."

As the boys left, Tori stayed with Cat while the redhead pulled her phone out of her pocket.

"Oh look at that, they probably think we all died," Cat said as she saw the number of missed calls. She dialed her dad's number and held her phone to her ear.

 _"Hello?"_ Sikowitz said.

"Hi Dad. Sorry I missed your call. We got here about an hour ago, I just forgot to let you know."

 _"That's fine, I gotta go tend to my coconuts."_

"Your coconuts."

 _"Yes."_

 _"Erwin, you don't mind if I put Tabby in your bed for a nap do you?"_ Tara asked in the background.

 _"That's fine."_

Cat's jaw dropped. "Is that my mother?" she asked. "Why is she at your house? Why is my sister at your house?"

 _"That's wasn't your mom, it was... it was... your sister."_

"Liar, what is my mother doing at your house?"

 _"Gotta go crack the coconuts,"_ Sikowitz said before hanging up.

Cat gasped, looking at Tori. "My mom's at my dad's house!"

"What's so weird about that?" Tori asked.

"They're divorced. She's married. She has nothing to be over there for."

"Maybe they're just hanging out."

"Tara Valentine does not just 'hang out' with her ex-husband," Cat said, dialing Tara's phone number.

 _"Hello?"_ Tara asked.

"Why are you at Dad's house!"

 _"I brought April over."_

"Bullshit."

 _"I did."_

"Why does Tabby have to take a nap in Dad's bed? Why are you over there long enough for Tabby to need a nap? Why aren't you at home?"

 _"Will you stop with the twenty questions?"_

"It was three. Why are you at Dad's?"

 _"I already told you. I have to go."_

Cat scoffed as her mother hung up on her. "That bitch."

"Maybe they're just hanging out, why is that so hard to believe?" Tori asked.

"I already told you," she said as she dialed April's number.

 _"Yellow?"_ April asked.

"Why is Mom at Dad's house?"

 _"Because she lives there...?"_

"No, stupid. Dad's house. Not Adam."

 _"Oh... Oh! Oh my god! Are they fucking?"_

"How the hell should I know! They both told me the same thing and then hung up on me. And she has Tabby with her."

 _"Mom's such a ho. I'm so proud."_

"April!"

 _"So, how's Disneyland?"_

"I puked."

 _"Ew."_

"Yeah, it sucked. Do some spying. Dig the dirt. Tell me what's going on, I gotta go cause we're about to go eat."

 _"Eat for me too, have fun, love you, bye. Tell Beck to suck my dick, by the way,"_ April said before hanging up.

"So, any news?" Tori asked.

"None," Cat sighed. "April's gonna do some digging though. She'll find out."

"You can't seriously be hungry again," Jade said as she and the boys walked up.

"I am."

"You just puked your life away and you wanna eat?"

"Yeah man, I'm hungry."

* * *

"Cat, Cat, Cat," Beck said, pulling at Cat's arm and walking her towards a bench.

"Whatty?" Cat asked.

"I have something to show you, but you can't say anything to Jade."

"...Oh no, you didn't get another girl pregnant did you?"

"What? No."

"What is it then?"

"This," Beck said as he took a small box out of his pocket and opened it, revealing a ring.

Cat gasped and took the box. "Oh my god Beck, this is gorgeous!"

"I know. You think she'll like it?"

"Like it? She'll love it, especially since it's coming from you... are you gonna propose to her?"

"I plan on it."

"When?"

"Tonight. During the color show."

"Oh my god, I'm so happy for you!" Cat said, hugging him. "God, she's been waiting for you to ask her to marry you since like, sixth grade."

"Hopefully she doesn't hate me for waiting so long. You really think she's gonna like it?"

"Yes! Beck, she's gonna be over the moon, this is gonna make her the happiest she's ever been, especially after losing Braden."

"Yeah..." Beck said softly.

Cat looked at him for a few seconds. "...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring him up."

"It's fine. I just haven't thought about him in a while. Makes me feel like a bad father..."

"You're not a bad father. It's good, yanno? That you don't spend every waking minute thinking about him. He's safe. He's with my Braden. They're having fun together. I promise."

"I just miss him, you know?"

"I know. Believe me, I know. Me and Robbie know more than anybody else how you guys feel."

"I wonder sometimes what he would look like and if he'd have Jade's attitude."

"He'd definitely have Jade's attitude. That's a definite."

Beck laughed a little. "I think all of our kids are gonna have her attitude."

"For sure. It's unavoidable, honestly."

"You wanna catch back up with everyone? They're probably wondering where we've been."

"Yeah, sure," she said as she handed the box back to him. "She really is gonna love this, Beck... She's gonna be so happy."

"It's a rare sight to see her happy."

"Then I guess tonight's gonna be extra magical for her."

* * *

"Oh my god!" Cat exclaimed. "That was so cool! Did you see that? It - it - it went from blue to - to whatever that really pretty color was!"

"Calm down, Lil Red," Andre said. "Don't bust a blood vessel."

"Oh my god, can I do that? Can that happen?"

"Yes and it'll be bloody," Jade said.

"I don't like blood."

"Can we talk?" Beck whispered to Jade.

"It can't wait until after the show?" Jade asked.

"Not really. It's important."

"Okay."

"This way," Beck said as he stood up and led her away from the show.

"Guys," Cat whispered once they were out of ear shot. "Guys, watch this, watch, it's gonna be great, watch."

"What? Watch what?" Tori asked.

"Beck and Jade, just watch."

"What's so great about it? Are they gonna fight?"

"No, just watch."

Beck let out a small breath, taking Jade's hands into his. "You know I love you."

Jade looked at him for a few seconds. "...Are you breaking up with me at Disneyland?"

"What? No! No, I just wanna talk."

"About breaking up?"

"No. We're not breaking up."

"Okay... continue."

"You know I love you. I have for a really long time."

"Yeah, I know. I love you, too."

"I want nothing more than to make you the happiest woman in the world."

"You already do."

"Just listen. I know I'm not a very emotional person, but there's something I've been wanting to do for a really long time. And I felt that tonight was the perfect time to do that."

"Do what?"

Beck knelt on one knee and took the box out of his pocket, opening it and showing her the ring, causing her to cover her mouth and the group of friends gasp, except Cat, who was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"I would like nothing more than for you to be my wife some day. We don't have to do it anytime soon, we can wait and we can plan over the years. But... Jadelyn August West... will you marry me?" Beck asked.

Jade stared at him for a few seconds before she let out a sob and nodded. "Yes! Absolutely!"

Beck smiled and stood up, taking the ring out of the box and sliding it onto her finger, kissing her lips.

The group of friends cheered, the boys whistling and Cat and Tori jumping around in a circle with each other.

"Yay!" Cat said. "She said yes!"

"I love you so much," Jade whispered.

"I love you more," Beck said.

"That's impossible."

"Well, what do you guys say we celebrate?" Andre asked.

"Yeah!" Cat said. "Can we go eat?"


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

 **A/N:** This is possibly the shortest chapter in this story. But I didn't know how else to prolong it. So, here it is... the last chapter. I hope y'all enjoyed the story. Thank you so much for reading!

* * *

Cat laughed as her coworker threw a shirt at her. "Hey!"

"That's what you get for just leaving stuff in the dressing room," Hilary said.

"That was just payback for you leaving all those totes for me to do by myself last week. I didn't get out of here until almost midnight on Wednesday."

"My kid was puking, I couldn't just leave him with the sitter."

"Give him some pedialyte, he'll be okay."

"You meanie."

Cat laughed. "I'm kidding. I wouldn't have left my son if he was sick either."

"You have a kid?"

"No," Cat shook her head. "Well... yeah, I do. But I lost him earlier this year."

"I'm sorry. Did CPS take him or something?"

"No. He was stillborn. Had him at seven months."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't. It's a lot easier to talk about now. I used to not talk about him at all, but I'm at a point now where I can talk about him and it not bother me."

"I know how it feels. Preston is my rainbow baby."

Cat smiled. "That's sweet..."

"Mine was stillborn, too," Hilary said. "Little girl. Emery Faith."

"How far along were you?"

"It was her due date. I went into labor right on time, but when they connected me to the fetal monitor, there wasn't a heartbeat. They did an ultrasound, they used every trick in the book to just get even the faintest heartbeat, but it wasn't there. So they just broke the news as gently as they could, and they let labor continue."

"I'm so sorry," Cat said. "I went in for a routine check up. I didn't know that it wasn't a good sign for an active baby to not be active. Had I known, I might have gone in sooner and maybe they could have caught it and done something."

"Did they tell you what killed him?"

"Congenital Heart Disease."

"Jesus... I could have had an autopsy done on Emery, but I didn't want her poor little body all cut up."

"That's part of the reason I was a little hesitant, but I wanted to know what was wrong. I wanted to know if it was something I did, or something I had and if it was me, if I could have prevented it for any future babies. But it wasn't me. He just had a bad heart. Poor little guy... Had he lived, he just would have suffered, yanno? I wouldn't want my baby to suffer. I'm kind of glad it happened when it did because it would have broken me more to have him alive in my arms one day and the next dead."

"I don't know how any parent handles that. That must be the worst feeling in the world."

Cat nodded. "Yeah... But, I was told that Braden's heart defect won't effect any future kids. So I'm thankful for that, because I do want more kids later on. Maybe after Robbie and I get our own place and we're a little more settled and we have a routine and an estimated balance after bills and all that. If we can afford a baby, maybe we'll try. But we're not in a rush. I just turned eighteen, so kids aren't on my mind right now."

"Well, I wish you luck on your future children. And good luck with your rainbow baby."

Cat smiled. "Thanks. Good luck with your pukey baby."

* * *

"God, Catey," April said as she sat on the couch next to Cat. "That was the most disgusting thing I've ever had to go through. Next time you puke, make sure you make it to the toilet. Or the bath tub at least."

"I'm sorry, it just hit me okay?" Cat said, laying her head down on April's shoulder.

"You need to go to the doctor, you never get the flu."

"Maybe it just took to me this time. I'll be fine in a few days."

"You can't work when you're puking."

"And I already called Hilary and told her that I wouldn't be in for a few days. She might actually be the one that passed it to me. Her kid was sick the last few days, maybe she carried it and it just stuck to me."

"What stinks in this house?" Sikowitz asked as he walked into the apartment.

"Cat puked down the hallway," April said.

"Gross."

"I didn't mean to, it didn't hit me until it was too late," Cat said.

"You should go to the doctor."

"See?" April asked. "I told you. I'll even take you myself. We can go to urgent care or something."

Cat sighed, rubbing her hand over her face. "Fine..."

* * *

"Caterina Valentine," a nurse called.

Cat and April stood up and followed the nurse to a room.

"Take a seat on the bed, Miss Valentine," the nurse said.

"Cat. Please. Miss Valentine makes me feel old."

"Cat it is, then. What's been going on? I understand you've been vomiting."

"For a few days, yeah. I've just been really achy and throwing up."

"I keep telling her to stop eating so much, but she doesn't listen to me," April said.

The nurse chuckled. "Well, it's a good thing that she has an appetite. I'll tell you what - I want you to pee in a cup for me and we'll see what's going on, okay?" she asked, handing Cat a urine sample cup.

"I hate these things..." Cat sighed. "Alright. Put it in the little medicine cabinet magic drawer thing?"

"Yep. Bathroom's right there," she said, pointing to a door in the corner of the room.

A few minutes later, Cat walked out of the bathroom drying her hands on a paper towel and she threw it in the trashcan. "Will it take long to see what's going on?"

"Nope, not at all," the nurse said. "Give us about fifteen minutes tops and I'll be back in to let you know."

"Alright. Thanks."

As the nurse left, Cat sat on the bed again and swung her feet back and forth.

"I'm tired," Cat said.

"You're always tired."

"I know. I'm also hungry."

"You're gonna get so fat if you keep eating the way you have been."

"I work out, asshole."

"Yeah, but you've gotten chubby. I used to be the fat twin."

"I'm not fat, I just gained weight. It'll come off eventually."

"You hope, anyways."

"I know it will. It came off after I had Braden."

There was a knock at the door and Cat looked up. "Come in."

"Alright, Cat," the nurse said.

"That was really fast, is it bad news?" she asked.

"Well, that depends on how you take it."

"What's wrong with me?"

"I hope you have the money for a crib."

"Oh my god," April said.

"What?" Cat asked. "Why do I need a crib? Please tell me I don't need a crib."

"You're gonna need a crib."

"Why do I need a crib?"

"Urine sample came back," the nurse said. "You're pregnant."


End file.
